Vulcan: New Beginnings
by Durecel
Summary: It's back after a too long unofficial hiatus; Five ordinary teenagers, with extraordinary talents, are thrown into the world of CHERUB after their parents are announced as MIA missing in action. One other problem is: four of them didn't know their parents were involved in the milatary.
1. Chapter 1: Problems

**If you feel offended by bad language; I suggest you stop reading this story now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the CHERUB franchise; its characters, ideas, or storylines. **

**For legal reasons; the characters mentioned do not exist.**

Hey Durecel here. Welcome to the first instalment of my CHERUB Vulcan series; that was partially inspired by NoSorrow13 and his Taskforce 13 stories.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: Problems<p>

The Dean High School on the southern coast of England was home to many forms of academic study for teenagers within the immediate Brighton area as well as its surrounding counties to a lesser extent. On this particular Sunday it was home to a Karate Black belt class, it was the class that all black belts dread; the lesson that's supposed to kill you, rather than train you.

This particular black belt class was an unusual one; all black belts who could make it had to go, but some first KYU's, the final non **black** belt in Karate, had been invited to attend as they were deemed worthy to train that day, that's what they were told anyway.

The last twenty minutes of the three hour class had been murder; runs, sit ups, crab style walking, lizards and geckos, leg raises in all shapes and sizes and, if you were over 16, several punches to the gut by one of the three instructing black belts; whilst keeping legs five inches of the ground.

Finally with two minutes to go the lead black belt called; "OK guys all up. You've all done incredibly well today; even the 1st KYUs. Now just to finish off; 1st KYUs 25, 1st Dans 50, 2nd Dans 75 press ups. Go. Adults on knuckles please."

All of the training martial artists replied: "Uus Sensei!" and got on with their respective amount of press ups; desperate not to be the last to finish the gruelling exercise.

After a minute the 2nd Dans finished their 75 press ups, closely followed by the 1st Dans and finally the 1st KYUs. The head instructors gave their students a nod in approval of what had been achieved, and without further ado, the concluded the lesson with the obligatory Otaga Norai (bow to the class) and subsequent Sensei Norai (bow to the teacher).

* * *

><p>It was always mass chaos at the end of any black belt class; black belts of various Dans working out who to bow to first after they'd bowed to the big cheeses that were the three 3rd Dan instructors. It was even worse for the seven or eight 1st KYUs.<p>

In the middle of the confusion; three black belts were sat putting their shoes and socks on talking about what they'd been up to in the past week before they were interrupted by the final two 1st KYUs that needed to bow to them.

The trio bowed their heads in acknowledgement before they could finally leave. The first of them to leave, after the higher Dan and more experienced same Dans of course, was a relatively short girl named Selphy, followed by a relatively tall bloke called Christian, and finally the boy in the middle in terms of height; Zane, retired from the dojo.

About half an hour later almost all the black belts had gone, and all but two of the 1st KYUs had disappeared off home, the three black belts left were Selphy, Christian, and Zane, the two 1st KYUs were a brunette girl; Karla, and her younger brother; Baird.

The sister brother duo had gotten changed out of their gi's, into more casual clothes. Baird had a pair of jeans and a tartan shirt on which made him look like a miniature lumberjack, Karla had a pair of green hot pants on, a blue cardigan on top of a white tank top. The pair was buying some energy drinks to build their body fluids up after the three hours of sweating. The other three black belts were sat around a coffee table having a chat about the last week and what they'd been up to.

At some point during the conversation, a woman; about Selphy's height, came in. She walked over to the group of black belts with a friendly and careful attitude.

"Hiya, you lot alright?" the woman asked with a heir of openness about her. Selphy stood up before she replied.

"I'm good thank you Mum, how's you?" the other two lads got up as well to acknowledge Selphy's Mum's; Susannah, presence.

"I'm fine, you ready to go? Oh, are you two boys alright for lifts home?" She asked. Christian and Zane looked at each other before replying.

"I'm fine Susannah, my Mum should either be outside, or on her way now." Christian answered followed quickly by Zane.

"Yeah, my Dad should be on his way too. Thank you for the offer though Susannah." He said whilst taking one of the headphones he had in out.

"OK, we'll wait around a bit until they both show-" Susannah didn't get to finish her sentence as her phone went off. She quickly looked at the Blackberry that had interrupted her midsentence before groaning. "Ugh, somehow Rebecca's managed to lock herself out of the house. I suppose we'd better go then?" She rhetorically asked her eldest daughter before turning to leave.

The two boys bowed to the more experienced Selphy before she bowed in acknowledgement and then left herself.

Now with one of their partners gone, Christian and Zane returned to their chairs and started talking again.

"So, did you see the Grand Prix last week?" Christian asked his companion.

"Yeah, it was a good one from what I remember..." Zane answered half heartedly, something else obviously occupying his interest away from his friend.

"It wasn't that bad, little disappointed about the FIA's ruling afterward." Christian admitted, obviously a bit downhearted about the post race decisions that happen every now and then in Grand Prix racing.

"Hmm, yeah it was a bit of a piss take; Ferrari International Aid I suppose. But hey that's what happens when you put an Italian in charge." Zane thought aloud. He was still staring into the distance though, and Christian wasn't sure what he was supposedly staring at. He turned around to look in Zane's line of sight and saw what his companion was more interested in.

"You're not gawping at Karla again are you?" He asked jokingly, trying to snap Zane out of his trance. Zane's reply was a little less than expected.

"You have to admit Chris; she's got nice legs." He said pulling his head way from Karla's direction to look at Christian.

"Mate, she's two years younger than you. You can't seriously be falling for a school kid."

"I can. Because I have, I think." The two boy's conversation was interrupted yet again when they noticed Karla and Baird started walking in their direction. Christian shot a look at Zane which confused the shorter of the two black belts, before they turned to look at the brother and sister.

"Sempai would it be OK if we left before you?" Karla asked in her normal sweet voice. Zane looked at Christian before he gave his reply.

"You can go before me, but whether Chris'll let you go before him is another matter." Zane said before effectively giving Christian the floor. He was about to answer when their attention was drawn to the entrance; two police officers walked through the doors, removing their hats as they did so.

The group of martial artists looked at each other, and were about to finish when they were surprised to see the two officers walking over to them. Zane and Christian looked at each other and then at their sai bag cases and staffs. Karla and Baird looked at their staffs as well. All of them thought that the two officers were inspecting them because of the four obvious weapons they all had.

Zane realised by the two white rims around the caps the two officers were holding; they were traffic, and quite possibly FLOs (Family Liaison Officers). The two officers stopped in front of the teenagers and asked if they were who they were, to which they all nodded. The Sergeant of the two asked if Karla and Baird would take a seat before he and his colleague took a seat too.

"There's been an incident on the A27. We believe that your parents have been involved in a collision." He began. The officers began to explain some of the details of the collision; who was involved, what state each individual parent was in and other details.

Christian's mother was in a critical but stable condition and was in the back of a paramedic ambulance heading towards the local hospital. Christian looked like he was trying to hold his tears back, away from public view.

Zane's father was in a similar state; critical but stable, but hadn't been removed from the wreckage of his Mercedes E500 yet. Zane looked the most relaxed of the four, that didn't mean he wasn't upset; his head was hung low and his eyes were stinging from held back tears. He put a reassuring hand on Christian's shoulder trying to show some sort of companionship between the two partners.

Karla and Baird's mother was in a critical state also but she was already in hospital being treated for several injuries. Karla's eyes had begun to flood as she held her little brother. Baird was sobbing uncontrollably into his sister's shoulder at the news. What made it worse though, their baby sister Demy, was in a life threatening condition in hospital too.

At this realisation; the two siblings could no longer try to support one another from the shear shock and sadness that had consumed them. The two black belts helped them up before embracing each other trying to comfort one another as much as themselves.

"C'mon, if our families are even half as strong as we are; they'll be fighting fit by the end of the day." Zane tried to joke, trying to lighten the mood. The other three began to lift a slight smile at the comment.

* * *

><p>On the A27 the silver BMW 550i of Susannah Horton was travelling eastward toward a town called Lewes. The German saloon was travelling at a greater speed then all of the other cars around it, and Selphy noticed this.<p>

"Mum, why are we going so fast? After all Rebecca can wait if she was dumb or drunk enough to lock herself out." Selphy said as she took a swig of the bottle of water that was in her hand.

"Yeah alright, but what happens when we get there and she's walked off somewhere and we can't find her?" Susannah asked her daughter with an undercurrent of sarcasm evident in her voice.

"Text her, she's got her phone hasn't she?" Selphy replied without even thinking. Susannah couldn't really argue with that and so she left off the gas a bit.

As the BMW began to decelerate to about 70mph, the car cruised past a small scene of devastation in the opposite carriageway. A collection of crumpled metal, blue flashing lights, and men in high visibility jackets swarmed the area.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Done.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: Collisions

**If you feel offended by bad language; I suggest you stop reading this story now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the CHERUB franchise; its characters, ideas, or storylines. **

**For legal reasons; the characters mentioned do not exist.**

Yo Durecel here, chapter two of Vulcan's first instalment. Read, enjoy, and if you feel like it; review too.

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Collisions<p>

The silver BMW of Susannah Horton turned into their home. Selphy and Susannah were expecting to see Rebecca waiting outside the front door or loitering around in the front garden; but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"I thought you said she locked herself out?" Selphy asked her mother as she emerged from the car. Susannah looked around expecting her youngest daughter to appear from hiding before replying.

"That's what she said; she might've jumped over the fence into the back garden." Susannah pondered before she went to unlock the front door of the house.

The two called out to see if anyone was in, but there was no reply. They went on to search the house; just to make sure that, if Rebecca had gotten in, she hadn't collapsed because she was high or pissed.

She hadn't gotten in the house or done so and collapsed. She wasn't in the back garden either. Susannah let out a long sigh as she turned to the door, ready to look for Rebecca herself. Before she did, she told Selphy to phone and/or text Rebecca to see where she was, Susannah was going to report her missing to the police whilst she went out to look for her too.

* * *

><p>The other martial artists had been driven to the hospital in Brighton where their parents were or were going to be. Christian, Karla and Baird where taken to their respective parent in the trauma unit. They were all happy to see that they were OK. Karla and Baird were both in tears again, along with their mother who was crying for Demy in the infant's trauma unit.<p>

Zane sat down in one of the many corridors within the trauma unit waiting for his Dad to arrive. As he waited, with a look of upset still on his face, after the news was delivered in the Dean High School lobby.

Zane reached for his phone out of his kitbag. He only wanted to check the time but saw that he had a new message. Unlocking the mobile he saw the number was a PNN number; a Police number. Reading the message he found out that he was wanted in Parliament tomorrow to see the Intelligence Minister. Seth just thought aloud; "Ah fuck off Minister I've got to grieve right now."

* * *

><p>In Lewes, Selphy had showered after the horrible exercise she'd undertaken in Brighton, before getting changed into more civilian clothing. She'd sat around watching TV for several hours waiting for either her mum and or her sister to turn up. Eventually she got irritable and rang her sister for the umpteenth time.<p>

"Welcome to the O2 messaging-" she ended it there and then; she couldn't be bothered with her sister if she was either ignoring her family or being so pissed that she didn't realise her phone was ringing.

It was difficult to believe at the time, but Selphy and Rebecca used to get on wonderfully in the old days when their father was around. After their parents got divorced; the two started to move further apart. When their Dad buggered off to America or wherever it was he went with some foreign chick; that was the final straw for their mother. She started dating like something not right and the two sisters reacted incredibly differently; Selphy became slightly more timid than she used to be, and Rebecca turned into a hooligan almost always out partying and getting pissed, all before either her eighteenth birthday.

Selphy decided that she'd ring her mum to see if she was having any luck.

"Welcome to the O2 messaging service" Selphy stared at her phone to make sure she hadn't rung Rebecca by accident, but no she had definitely rung her mother. Now Selphy was getting scared; her sister was missing and her mother wasn't answering her phone either; something was not right.

* * *

><p>Zane's phone went off again in his bag, just before his Dad arrived. He checked the phone to see that it was yet again a PNN number. This message came as a bit of a shock. It read:<p>

Officer Susannah Horton MIA

Last seen on Lewes High Street

Was seen driving a BMW 550i before disappearing

"What? Something is definitely not right today." Zane muttered before he saw a stretcher with nurses and doctors surrounding it.

Apparently it was only precautionary and Zane was told he shouldn't worry at all about what was going on. Easier said than done.

After all the required checks had been made, Zane had been allowed to see his father. The opening line was reassurance that the old git was fine, mentally at least:

"What's the matter son? You got a face like a slapped arse..." Zane's Father wheezed, trying to punch his son on the arm in friendly banter.

Zane took the comment on the nose, letting a slight laugh slip as he looked at his dad on the hospital bed being his normal self as if nothing had happened.

"A bit pissed off at the fact you wrote the Merc off, and nearly did so to yourself in the process, other than that; I'm fine." Zane beamed. His Father couldn't help but laugh weekly;

"That's my boy."

"There's one more thing Dad," Zane whispered as he leant over to give his Dad the information about Susannah that had come through earlier. As well as the meeting with the Intelligence Minister tomorrow.

"Christ, something must be going wrong in the world if Susannah's MIA, and the Intel Minister wants to see you." Zane's father breathed. He let his head rest on his pillow, contemplating something. "Can you find out what happened to the people in the other cars? And does Dana know about the meeting with the IM?" He asked slightly deflated.

"Dana doesn't know cuz she was involved in the accident, so to was Karla and Baird's Mum; Abigail and little sister Demy." Zane replied.

The reply seemed to come as a surprise to his Dad. "Hang on, you're saying that there were only three cars involved?"

"Ay,"

"But I'm sure there were more cars than that involved. There was a grey Range Rover, a red Jag XF, me, and at least four other cars." Zane's Dad thought aloud. He looked like he was trying to remember any other cars involved. "Yeah there were; a white SUV hit me up the arse, then a van t-boned me because I spun, and then I don't remember but I knew there were more cars tight packed."

This came as a shock to Zane as he was told that there were only three cars involved. But now his Dad had come out with at least seven vehicles involved. This made little sense.

* * *

><p>After Karla and Baird had seen their Mum, they had been shown to the infant trauma unit, where Demy was being treated.<p>

The brother and sister sat in the corridor as they watched nurses and doctors and God knew who else walk in, out and around the unit. They sat there for about twenty minutes when they were allowed to see Demy.

The infant didn't look to be in a good state, she had tubes going into her nose, and arms but also had electrodes patched all over her body. The two teenagers looked at their little sister, tears still in their eyes from earlier. Both tried to speak, either to talk to Demy or reassure the other, but nothing would come out, even the faintest squeak couldn't be made audible. They were like that for a few minutes before Baird finally found his voice.

"Why? Why'd this happen Karla, she hasn't done anything to anyone. Why'd this happen to Demy?" every word saw a slight tremor as the youngest martial artist watched his little sister breathe.

Karla wanted to reply but she still couldn't find the words to say, or her voice to speak them with.

After twenty minutes, Karla had found her voice too, and was reassuring her little brother. The two were interrupted by Zane as he walked into the unit looking for them.

"How's she holding up guys?" he said as softly as he could. The two siblings looked at him, before they gave a reply.

"The doctor said she's doing fine, and should make a full recovery." Baird said as he looked at Demy, with upset puffed up eyes. Zane nodded slowly in acknowledgement.

"How's your Mum?" He asked.

"She's still in shock about the whole thing, she was worried for Demy most of all, and worried about us too." Karla replied as she pulled Baird close.

"She'll be hoping you aren't overcome too much." Zane said trying to add his reassurance to the siblings own reassurances. "How are you two getting home anyway?" Zane asked trying to change the subject.

The siblings looked at each other with worried looks on their faces.

"Uhh, we dunno. And we can't get in the house anyway; we don't have a key." Baird said slightly stupefied by the question.

"And there's no one to let us in as our Dad is away to Thailand on business." Karla answered Zane's next question before he could ask it.

Zane sighed at this realisation, and started to think of a solution. "You're welcome to stay with me if you've nowhere else to stay."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: done.<strong>

**If you've read this and wondered what the hell is going on; please wait for chapter 3 to explain some of it.**


	3. Chapter 3: Promotion

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the CHERUB franchise; its characters, ideas, or storylines. **

**For legal reasons; the characters mentioned do not exist.**

I think we get the picture by now anyway.

Yo Durecel here, chapter three of Vulcan's first instalment. Read, enjoy, and if you feel like it; review too.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Promotion<p>

The Sunday evening sun had started to set behind the South Downs, it was almost always a beautiful sight to behold; not that it mattered to the five martial artists.

On the Southern line that ran between Brighton and Eastbourne, Christian, Zane, Karla, and Baird sat waiting for the train to stop in Lewes. They were all wearing glum looks still in slight shock from the events of the last few hours.

Other commuters looked at Christian and Zane as they were both still wearing their karate gi's.

In Lewes, Selphy's home had two extra occupants at the moment in the form of two police officers. Rebecca had been found on Lewes high street outside one of the many pubs, completely pissed from her excursions last night with her mates. She was now in hospital having her stomach pumped because of how much alcohol she'd had.

After Selphy had been given the details regarding the search for her sister, the two officers moved onto asking questions about where Susannah could've disappeared to.

"I don't know where she could be." Selphy repeated for the third time. "She went out looking for Rebecca after we came straight back from Brighton. When I tried to ring her after two hours, she wouldn't pick the phone up." Selphy said frustrated at the two officers.

The officers kept asking questions, some with regard to what Susannah was wearing, what car was she driving, what she looked like. And then started with questions that didn't seem so useful; why could she have gone missing, was she in any financial trouble and other such redundant questions that a 17 year old didn't have much chance of answering.

* * *

><p>At Lewes train station, the train the other four martial artists were on had finally arrived. They'd all disembarked and made their way to their respective houses. Christian saw his Dad's Mondeo parked on the drive with a police Volvo on the pavement outside. He could only imagine that they were telling his Dad the same information that he himself had been told earlier in the day.<p>

It was a similar story for Zane as he, along with the Smith siblings walked up the driveway, and passed another police Volvo.

It was about an hour and thirty minutes after the three teenagers walked through the door that the explanation about what had happened, why Karla and Baird were there among other things, before some form of normality had been reached within the Wilkins residence. The two officers had informed Karla and Baird that their father in Thailand had been told about today's events and would be flown back as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>At the crack of dawn the next day, Zane was ready on the commuter train to London's Victoria station. He was quite possibly the youngest person in his carriage, and was getting a few odd looks from the older commuters. He looked at the rucksack sat between his legs; he looked like a youngster trying to escape the dull life of Lewes. The contents of his rucksack said otherwise; a pair of black trousers, a black tunic with brass buttons, a brass belt along with a pair of brass epaulettes and a black cap with brass rim. The insignia on the front was of the crown jewels.<p>

As soon as the train stopped at Victoria station, Zane was greeted by two men in black overcoats covering their suit and ties. A simple nod sufficed with the men; this was Officer Zane Wilkins they were looking at. He was rushed off the train and marched into the back of a black Range Rover.

The SUV was under a police escort, and arrived at Parliament within two minutes. Zane, quickly being ushered out of the Range Rover and into the hallowed halls of Parliament, didn't get much of a chance to see the famous government building. He was thrown into a toilet cubicle to get changed into his more formal attire, he looked at himself in the mirror; 'Still fits like a glove,' thought Zane as he began to look at all the detail on his tunic. His brass epaulettes gleaming off of the fluorescent lights. Once he was out into the main hall again, he was taken to the office of the Intelligence Minister.

"Good morning Officer Wilkins, how was your trip from Lewes?" the Minister started.

Zane gave the MP a once over; fat, balding middle aged man in a black suit with a blue tie to represent his party, 'probably not the best person to have as the intelligence minister, but thank God you aren't the chief of operations' thought Zane, before replying.

"Long. How may I be of assistance Minister?"

The MP acknowledged for Zane to take a seat that was behind him, before the MP himself took a seat behind his desk.

"You can't Officer, I've asked for you to be here today because of the events involving your squadron yesterday." The MP said sternly. Zane really wanted to let a long sigh out but thought against it, he wanted to look professional.

"This was not the original intention of this meeting Officer Wilkins, but I have had to make a decision. And I'm hoping I'm not going to regret the options I took yesterday." He said, not letting up in his stern tone of voice.

"And what choices were those, Minister?" Zane asked.

"Because of the current condition Vulcan's Fourth Squadron is in Zane, I'm promoting you to the rank of Commanding Officer of Vulcan's Fourth Squadron, replacing CO Dana Whiteman whilst she recovers in hospital." He said without batting an eyelash.

This came as an unfortunate surprise to Zane; a 16 year old CO, the army equivalent of an army colonel. He wasn't even supposed to be CO throughout his career but now he was. And there was still more news to come.

"Yourself and your future subordinates are being sent to train and build up experience with MI5's CHERUB division."

'Great, training with the SAS I'm fine with, training with the US Navy Seals and Taskforce 13 I'm fine with, training with the Spetsnaz I'm fine with, training with the French Foreign Legion I'm fine with, I'm even fine with training with the Sayeret Matkal. But CHERUB? Fuck off.' Zane thought as he stood up to shake the Intelligence Minister's hand as a form of thanks. No words mentioned however.

After another twenty minutes discussing details about bringing the future CHERUBS up to the HQ among other things, the meeting ended.

As Zane walked out the office, he rubbed his right hand down his front; out of view of the MP he'd just shaken hands with for the tenth time. He was driven to the nearest army barracks.

* * *

><p>After being rushed through the compound, he was brought face to face with a large red haired man. He was at least a foot taller than Zane and probably weighed twice as much because of all the muscle his uniform scarcely concealed. This guy's uniform was identical to Zane's, apart from a few details; the epaulettes and brass ring around his right arm, underneath the epaulette.<p>

The epaulettes were brass like Zane's but had the crown jewels above two pips. As well as this, on the popper that held them in place, was a silver Roman one engraved on top. There was another Roman one on his sleeves. This guy was the CO of Vulcan's First Squadron.

"Congratulations on the promotion lad, and my sincerest of thoughts for your colleagues in hospital." The CO said, in a broad Scottish accent, holding his hand out in a gesture of good will.

Zane took his hand and put a bit of a squeeze on the hand that engulfed his own. "Thank you sir, I shall pass those thoughts on to my colleagues." Zane replied.

The Scotsman couldn't help but laugh at his pintsize equivalent. "I can tell from your hand shake son; you're one hell of a fighter. Also, drop the sir shit; we're now the same rank."

"With all due respect sir; you clearly have a number of years experience under your belt, so in my opinion; you out rank me." Zane replied with his voice full of respect for the Scotsman.

Again he couldn't help but laugh at his southern counterpart. He stopped laughing enough to pull out a case from beneath a desk next to him. Opening it revealed a pair of CO epaulettes with the IV engraved on the popper, along with the customary brass ring. Zane got the picture and removed his old ones before placing his new ones on.

He liked the look of the braided brass thread ring that looped underneath his right arm before stopping underneath the epaulette where it started again.

"Once again son; congratulations, but I hope this is the last time you and I ever cross paths." The Scotsman bellowed as he saluted his new counterpart.

The two CO's shook hands again before Zane replied; "That you and me both sir,"

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 done.<strong>

**I think there are more questions asked than answered in this; sorry about that.**

**Thank you for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4: KO

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the CHERUB franchise; its characters, ideas, or storylines. **

**For legal reasons; the characters mentioned do not exist.**

I think we get the picture by now anyway.

Yo Durecel here, chapter four of Vulcan's first instalment. Read, enjoy, and if you feel like it; review too.  
>Also I must apologise to NoSorrow13 for not stating in Chapter 3; that Taskforce 13 belongs to him.<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: KO<p>

Zane had gotten rid of the uniform and replaced it with his more casual clothes he had on when he arrived at London's Victoria. Only this time; along with his uniform, he had been given two vials of strong anaesthetic.

The drugs were to render Baird and Karla unconscious whilst they were transported up to CHERUB campus that evening. He had been told that Christian and Selphy were going to be given similar treatment, but fortunately for Zane; he didn't have to dope his entire future team. That didn't mean that he was happy to be doping two teenagers though.

The train journey from Victoria to Lewes took about an hour; and every minute that Zane was on that train he was hoping that there would be a signal problem or some suicidal nutter jumping on the tracks; anything to prolong the inevitable drugging.

The unfortunate fact of the matter was though; he was going to have to do it at some point.

Walking through the door of his home caused his heart rate to begin to rise steadily. He did his best to not let show; but every step he took caused it to increase slightly. He saw a figure standing in the kitchen, which was, thankfully, his mother.

She knew about Vulcan as well as who was one; so she was aware about some of the things that Zane and his Dad had to do every now and then.

"Hello sweat-heart. How was London?" She asked her son with an innocent voice, but Zane was old enough to tell that his mum already knew that something was wrong in his world; based on her body language.

"Crap." Zane said openly before walking further into the kitchen to be out of earshot of Karla and Baird. "I've got to go away for about 14 months to train with a special division of MI5. And I've gotta bring Karla and Baird with me." He said quietly, permanently checking for any signs of the other two teenagers in the house.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be too bad Zane; at least you'll have people you know there." His mother tried to reassure him as well as herself based on her tone of voice.

"Yeah, but between now and then; I have to drug them up with heavy anaesthetic as a security precaution. And that's something I really don't want to do." Zane said slightly upset at his predicament. "Where are Karla and Baird?"

His mother told Zane that Karla was in the downstairs toilet, and Baird was outside mucking about with a football. To Zane that made Karla the easiest option to start with. He reached into his rucksack and brought out the first vial of sedative along with a syringe and needle. He quickly attached the needle to the syringe before drawing the entire vial into the syringe.

He moved quickly to the left of the toilet's door. He could hear the tap running before it abruptly stopped. Zane guessed that he had about fifteen seconds before she opened the door. He listened to the slightest sounds coming from the small room behind him; before the unmistakeable sound of a dead lock's bolt sliding out of its catch into the door.

He took a few deep breaths as the door opened up enough for an outstretched arm revealed itself.

Before Karla had stepped out of the toilet she found that her left arm had been grabbed and turned bottom side up before she felt a sharp scratch on her skin. Immediately afterward there was the feeling you only got when being given an injection; fluid being forced into your blood; the worst feeling in the world for some people. And Karla was one of those people.

Before she tried to kick and scream, she felt her head become immensely heavy and was beginning to lose her grip on consciousness. She wanted to fight whatever was knocking her out, but it was failing miserably.

Zane pulled the door open, moving in front of it as he crouched down slightly in order to put Karla on his shoulders. She ungraciously flopped onto his right shoulder like a dead weight causing Zane to groan slightly.

He walked up the stairs with Karla's upper half over his shoulder. The way in how he held her could've been mistaken for a fireman's rescue.

He opened one of the bedroom doors to reveal a pair of beds that were normally together. Today however they weren't for what was becoming an obvious reason.

He moved steadily to the farthest bed where he gently placed the practically unconscious Karla on top of the sheets, purely to make transporting her easier later. As Zane stood back he realised that he was eye's were trying to have a cheeky look up and down the girl's body. He stopped by reminding himself that he still had a job to do, but more importantly to him; she was 14.

Zane went back to his rucksack with the second vial and needle in. He quickly retrieved them. He learned from his earlier mistake and turned to lock the door as well as the deadlock; so now there was little chance of Baird escaping.

He made his way outside to see where Baird was. Zane had already filled the syringe with the heavy anaesthetic, and had hid the needle, with the cap in place, behind his right arm. He found Baird out in the open doing kicky-ups with an old football of Zane's.

"Yo Baird, pass us the ball please mate," Zane asked the twelve year old. Baird looked at Zane before passing the old ball, mid air, to the 16 year old.

Zane stopped the ball before it smacked into one of the ground floor windows. He called back to Baird; "Keep your eye on the ball Baird." As soon as he said this he had flicked the ball onto the top of his shoe and started doing some really bad kicky-ups, which eventually saw the old dilapidated football flying over a fence into next door's garden.

Baird looked at Zane and sighed heavily before he went toward the fence where the ball had flown over. Zane walked over to Baird to look over the fence.

Now was Zane's chance. He turned to face Baird who was still gawping slightly at the fence. He unleashed a back fist to Baird's forehead, coupled with a sweep kick to the back of Baird's knees. The twelve year old was stunned by the outburst and didn't have much of a chance to fight back as Zane had put his knee onto the pre-teen, who was now down on the floor. Zane covered Baird's mouth so he couldn't yell for help.

Zane brought the needle out from its crap hiding place, taking the cap off with his teeth, and using his other knee to keep Baird's left arm stretched out. With the cap now off; Zane jabbed the needle into the protruding vein of Baird's left arm.

Unlike his sister; Baird wasn't afraid of needles or having fluids forced into his body, but his eyes were moist with tears as the drug began to take affect over his young body.

Zane repeated the process of lifting the unconscious body onto his shoulder and moving it into one of the spare bedrooms. Now all he had to do was pack up some things; get changed into his Commanding Officer attire, and then wait for the prearranged ambulance to pick up the two sleeping beauties as well as him.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Done.<strong>

**If you're now thinking: WTF? Then it means I've done my job right. Sorry it's a lot shorter than the other chapters but I want to get this bit done and then read The General through to Shadow Wave, in order to get the next few chapters done well.**

**Thank you for reading. And once again; I apologise to NoSorrow13 for not referencing your work in the previous chapter. (Do check his stories out, especially if you like CHERUB and/or the works of people like Chris Ryan and Andy McNab.)**


	5. Chapter 5: Orange

**I think we get the picture with the Disclaimer now.**

Yo Durecel here, chapter five of Vulcan's first instalment. Read, enjoy, and if you feel like it; review too.

Also thank you to the people who reviewed the previous chapters. It's nice to know that people enjoy my work.

And no I've only read The General through to Brigands M.C and I've only just started Shadow Wave so if anything is out of place; let me know but don't tell me what it should be because I don't like spoilers for books.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Orange<p>

Zane sat in a secure chair opposite the dead to the world Karla and Baird in the back of the pre arranged ambulance. It was about midnight and the ambulance was being driven as fast as reasonably possible through the countryside to a secure a sight as possible to find in the south east of England.

The location was closer to the town of Eastbourne than CHERUB campus, but better safe than sorry. The fact that it was good for disorientating Karla and Baird if they woke up prematurely was more of an afterthought.

Eventually the ambulance arrived at its destination; a roadside lay-by. It was under the cover of darkness and the driver and navigator had made sure they weren't being followed by anyone.

In the lay-by was a black Volkswagen van which had enough room inside to accommodate more people than was necessary at the moment.

Zane clambered into the back of the van to help pull the two sleeping beauties in and then strap them in.

The van didn't have windows beyond the cabin, so the CO had to keep a crappy little light illuminated for the whole trip up to CHERUB in order to keep an eye on the Smith siblings.

After everything had been sorted out, and a gruelling two hour drive; the VW van arrived at the gates to CHERUB campus. Everyone who was conscious was searched for forbidden objects, as was the van along with any luggage onboard.

During Zane's search, the guard found a sheath strapped to Zane's left wrist. It was clearly hiding something which wasn't allowed on campus. The guard undid a popper button and released the contents of the sheath. The guard was shocked to see what appeared to be a black knife. The knife was a custom made ceramic warrior's blade.

All four Vulcan nations (the USA, UK, what is now Russia, and France) require their Vulcan officers to wield a knife as a _last line of defence_. After metal detectors were introduced in airports and other high security establishments; this rule was relaxed until the 90's when kitchen knife manufacturers started experimenting with ceramic to make knives out of. Eventually the blades where manufactured to a suitable specification; resulting in Vulcan's being issued with custom made Zirconium Dioxide blades that had been through hot isostatic pressing in order to toughen the blades up.

The lack of metal also makes them perfect for the Vulcans to carry them anywhere, bar places with the best of scanners.

The guard stared at the black knife briefly, not knowing whether it was a real knife or not until he cut into the flesh of his middle finger when he tried to put it into a plastic bag.

Zane sighed heavily as he saw slight spurts of blood emerging from the ruptured capillaries in the guard's middle finger onto the guard's fingers as well as Zane's knife. He took the leather sheath off of his wrist and asked for the guard to replace the knife into the sheath before placing it into the plastic bag.

With no other dramas, the driver and navigator brought Karla and Baird into the campus building where they were stripped of all items, and taken to a pair of bedrooms on the seventh floor where they were stripped of all clothing too.

Zane, meanwhile, was escorted to a room on the sixth floor of the main building. When he entered the room he removed his boots, stripped down to his boxers and fell onto his new bed almost totally asleep. He'd been awake since 0500 the day before and it was now nearly 0300.

* * *

><p>Karla was beginning to exit her period of light sleep later in the morning; she had the usual teenage feeling of not knowing what planet they were on, what time it was, what day it was, or what they had to do in the day. She then began to realise that she wasn't in her own bed; as a result she started to toss and turn, trying to move into a more comfortable position.<p>

She initially believed that she was in Zane's spare bedroom. It then dawned on her; the bed for her brother wasn't in the room as it had been when Zane's mum showed them it the previous day. She shot up out of the bed before realising she was naked also.

The memories of the events that lead up to her deep sleep flooded back. She walked about the relatively large room trying to find the clothes she had on yesterday. In her little excursion she discovered an en suite bathroom along with: a microwave, a mini fridge, a 37" LCD TV complete with a DVD player and Sky HD+ box, and finally a brand new ASUS laptop.

Wherever Karla was; she was impressed with the technology. However that didn't excuse the apparent lack of clothing. Right up until she saw a clean pressed orange shirt, combat trousers, and underwear at the bottom of her bed. Bellow it all was a pair of mirror like shine black boots.

She initially thought that this was some kind of cruel joke, but then decided against it at the thought of walking around wherever she was arse naked.

She put everything on bar the orange shirt. She studied it hard; the logo on the left breast intrigued her; a baby that looked suspiciously like an iteration of Cupid on top of a globe. Underneath 'Cupid' was the word CHERUB. Whatever it was supposed to mean, it meant nothing to Karla.

She put the day-glow shirt and left the room wondering what she was supposed to do now.

Opposite the room that Karla had emerged from, Baird had gone through a similar experience of wondering where on Earth he was, before emerging from the room a few minutes after his older sister.

The siblings saw that they were both totally dumbfounded about what they now had to do, if anything. They stood about like this, talking about their experiences.

"So you don't remember anything after opening the toilet door?" Baird asked his sister. Karla nodded to confirm what she had just said before asking her little brother a question.

"And are you sure it was Zane who drugged you?"

"Absolutely 100%. I passed him the football so he could do some crap kicky-ups, before kicking the ball over the fence. Next thing I know; he's got me pinned to the ground and sticking a needle in my arm. And that's it." Baird repeated himself. Neither sibling was certain how they got there, but Karla now remembered another factor.

"Now that you mention having a needle being put in your arm, I remember feeling something scratching my arm before feeling something being forced into my bloodstream." Just remembering the injection sent shivers up Karla's spine.

The siblings continued their conversation until the lift door at the opposite end of the corridor opened. The person stepping out of the lift was a slight surprise. What that person was wearing; was even more of a surprise.

Zane moved toward the two siblings with an heir of purpose about him. He had been impressed by CHERUB campus, but he hadn't changed his opinion about being sent to it. No one else knew in the building knew of Zane's frustration about it, however, the flat line of his lips made it obvious that he wasn't a happy bunny.

Karla and Baird stared at Zane's uniform with intrigue. He held a black jacket, which had a pair of brass shoulders, flung over his right shoulder. He held a black cap in his left hand, accompanied by a black tie, black trousers held in place with a black leather belt and brass buckle, and a white short-sleeve shirt tucked into his trousers. In plain; his uniform was totally different from the one the siblings were wearing.

Baird was still unsure about Zane, and made that fact known when he went into a combative stance as Zane came closer to them.

"Good morning Karla, good morning Baird." Zane greeted once he was close enough to not have to shout to the two siblings.

Karla scowled at her brother because of the apparent bad blood that he had toward Zane before replying.

"Good morning Sempai," Karla bowed her head out of respect to the higher grade. "Where are we?"

Baird reluctantly bowed as well to Zane before scowling back at Karla. Zane had noticed both scowls and couldn't help but let a small smile slip before bowing back to the siblings.

"When we're out of sight of the 2nd Dans and above, you don't have to bow to me or call me Sempai. Just call me Zane." Zane said disregarding Karla's earlier question for the moment. "Now please come with me." He said before heading back to the elevator with the two 1st KYUs in tow.

The three martial artists entered the elevator heading downward to the first floor. Every now and then someone would get in the elevator and totally blank the three martial artists. The siblings noticed this and asked Zane when the latest person got out of the elevator.

"The agents here are told not to speak to guests wearing orange T-shirts like the ones you two are wearing." Zane answered as the elevator reached the ground floor. He motioned for them to leave the lift before heading toward a fountain with a 3D version of the logo that was on all of the 'agents' shirts.

"So what do the colours mean?" Baird asked as he looked at people not much older than him walk in and around the building. He'd noticed kids in grey, navy blue and black T-shirts and only adults in white ones.

"The colour denotes you're level of experience. Grey means you're eligible for missions, navy means you've completed one mission outstandingly, and black is the same on several occasions." Zane said as he looked at his watch. "White means you've retired, and/or become a staff member." He said as he got up to walk over to a desk with an elderly woman sat behind it.

"Please go on through Zane. Zara is waiting for you. Karla and Baird please wait until Zane is finished." She said as Zane acknowledged her and kept on going. Karla and Baird were surprised that this woman knew their names, but they did as she said.

* * *

><p>Zane put his jacket on over his shoulders and did one of the buttons up before entering the room which had; <em>Zara Asker, Chairwoman<em> written on a plaque next to the door.

"Good morning Commanding Officer Wilkins, please take a seat." Zara directed in a calm voice, to which Zane complied, sitting on the chair in front of the Zara's desk.

The two of them went into a lengthy discussion about the requirements that the new Vulcans would have to meet as well as the requirements that CHERUB would have to meet to keep the Vulcans there without risking a leak.

In the end, Zara and Zane made an agreement to keep both parties happy. The Vulcans training requirements would be met appropriately based on each future Vulcan's age. As well as this, Zara agreed to keep the soon to be 18 year old Selphy on board for a little longer than she would have done if she were to be a normal CHERUB agent. Also CHERUB would sort out bringing Selphy and Christian to CHERUB Campus.

But first things first; Karla and Baird would have to be initiated into Vulcan, and then take the selection tests to become CHERUBs.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: done.<strong>

**Christ this chapter is shit. Sorry about that.**


	6. Chapter 6: What The ?

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed**

Yo Durecel here. Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been busy with having gone to Italy, went to the Grand Prix at Silverstone, and had my birthday a few days afterward. I hope you understand, and crucially I shall endeavour to make sure this chapter isn't shit like the last one.

Also; I'm now up to date with the CHERUB timeline so if there are problems; don't hesitate to point them out :D

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: What the...?<p>

Karla and Baird sat on the edge of the fountain, staring down toward the office that Zane had been in for the best part of an hour.

"Do you reckon Zane knows where we are?" Karla asked her little brother, trying to calm her curiosity and pass the time.

Baird turned his head to face his sister, the look of disdain on his face made Karla feel like she was being accused of being an idiot.

"Of course he does. No one who's been through a situation like the one we're in now; with absolutely no fear in their face. It's not human." Baird answered, still evidently pissed off at something. Or someone to be exact.

Karla was aware of the bad blood that her little brother had for Zane, but this was getting annoying. She was getting to the point of cracking her brother over the head, but she kept herself calm before replying to her brother's statement.

"What is with you Baird? You've been pissed off ever since you saw Zane, why the bad blood?" Karla made an effort to make herself heard without shouting. She wanted to make it known that she was getting pissed off, but without losing control.

"Why the bad blood? He knocked me unconscious when I was most vulnerable! And I'm almost convinced; he's the one who knocked you out too. So don't you start with me about '_Ooh Baird why are you so pissed off_' as if you were Mum or Dad. **You** are **not** Mum or Dad." Baird shouted accusingly. It had become evident that he was upset about what had happened to their Mum, and that Karla was making it more difficult with, what he felt was; a kiss-arse approach.

"Is this really about what happened to you and me? Or what happened to Mum and Demy?" Karla asked, having realised her mistake. She wanted to pull her little brother closer to her, but knew that he would push her away so soon after a spat, even one as trivial as the previous.

"It's about both, I'm angry at Zane for what he did at his house. And I'm upset about what happened to Mum and Demy." Baird said hanging his head low. He felt Karla's arms rap around him, before she rested her cheek on his head. Baird didn't want to show that he was upset, but he had lost the heart to try flicking his sister off.

"I know how you feel about Mum and Demy, Baird. I feel the same way; we just need to be strong for them both." Karla spoke soothingly. She knew how Baird was feeling, but the two just decided to show it differently.

The siblings hadn't noticed that Zane had emerged from the room he'd been in for the last 60 odd minutes. He was standing with his side against the wall watching the warm embrace between the young siblings. He had heard most of the spat between them. Zane thought to himself that Baird was right to be angry at him for the betrayal of trust, but it had been an order; and there was nothing Zane could've done differently.

Karla let go of Baird, hoping that he had calmed down a bit before they went in to meet the big boss lady. The pair then turned to the corridor and saw Zane stood up against the wall with his arms crossed and a faint smile that was just noticeable.

Karla started scratching the back of her head, trying to avoid Zane's gaze. Baird followed suite, neither sibling wanted to see Zane's expression, but Zane could see that they were both looking despite the attempts to cover it up.

"Right, come hear you two. Zara's ready to meet you." Zane called as he stood up properly from the wall.

The two 1st KYU's walked down to the office of Chairwoman Zara Asker, Karla having a rather sheepish look on her face, and Baird kept his gaze downward so no one could see his expression. Before the martial artists walked in; Karla asked Zane a quick question,

"How much of that, did you see?" Karla asked, still sheepish from the whole charade.

"I didn't see what sparked it but I saw from when Baird started shouting at you onward." Zane answered.

"So most of it then," Karla replied. At this point, Zane turned to Baird. The kid had his arms crossed and refused to look at Zane as he started speaking.

"Look Baird, I know you're angry and I can't say I blame you." Zane had crouched down to make sure that he wasn't looking down at the twelve year old as he went on. "If I was in your shoes; I'd be pretty pissed off at me as well. But please believe me when I say I'm sorry." Zane's voice was the most sincere that either sibling had heard him use. "Baird, Karla; I'm sorry for having to drug the pair of you. But please believe me; I had no say in the matter at all."

"So you did drug Karla as well. I knew it, you took our trust for granted and abused it." Baird shouted accusingly at the black belt.

"I didn't take your trust for granted Baird. I trust very few people, so I never take someone's trust for granted." Zane said in a stern voice. He knew that Baird didn't trust him anymore, and he couldn't be sure that Karla trusted him much more now after that realisation.

The look in her eyes told Zane that he wasn't too far from the truth. "Karla, Baird; I understand that your trust in me has been damaged but allow me the chance to regain it. Please."

"Is there something wrong Zane?" the voice came from behind Zane. It was easily a woman's voice; probably belonging to the big boss lady.

"No, no Mrs Asker. Allow me to introduce Karla and Baird Smith." Zane said as he pointed out who was who, even though it was fairly obvious.

"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you. Would you like to go and sit in my office please? And Zane, please call me Zara in future. Ok?" Zara asked.

"I will in time Mrs Asker." Zane replied as he followed Zara into her office.

* * *

><p>The Smith siblings stood around in the large office wondering where to sit as there was a three person black leather sofa placed opposite a large wood burning fire place that looked like the oldest thing in the building. Everything else in the room was a far more modern affair, a large metallic and plastic desk sat in front of a floor to ceiling window. The desk had a black leather office chair behind it, and in front of it was a pair of white stools.<p>

Zara pointed at the black leather sofa for the siblings to sit down on, before she and Zane sat in two matching sofa chairs opposite the much larger one know occupied by Karla and Baird.

"First of all, I would like to say that Zane had no option in bringing you two here." Zara started, she was aware of how the siblings were brought to CHERUB and didn't want, what were apparently, some of the most well trained soldiers in the world falling out with each other at the first hurdle. "Secondly, welcome to CHERUB Campus. My name is Zara Asker; I'm the chairwoman of CHERUB, but please call me Zara."

"If you don't mind me asking Zara, but what is CHERUB?" Karla asked, again to calm her curiosity but also to ask on behalf of her brother.

"I'm glad you asked that Karla, but allow me to finish before asking anymore questions please." Zara said as she sat back in her chair. "CHERUB is a division of the British Intelligence Services, predominantly with the Security Service, but we work with all three agencies."

"Now you might've noticed the lack of adults around, and that's because most active agents are between 10 and 17 years old. We recruit kids from the ages of 4 up to 12. You will be an exception Karla, as well as Zane."

With that, the Smith siblings threw some questions in the mix about what was it like to work in CHERUB, what was it like to live on campus, what are the risks and benefits etcetera. The final question from Karla made Zara look at Zane.

"Why choose us to work for you?"

"I guess that's my department. You see, I don't work for CHERUB as such; I've been temporarily assigned to them by the Intelligence Minister. I work for an organisation called Vulcan, which isn't an intelligence agency; it's a military organisation with counterparts, of the same name, in the USA, France and Russia." As Zane started explaining this; the looks of confusion on Karla and Baird were utterly priceless. "Unlike CHERUB, which was created during World War 2, Vulcan was created in the aftermath; whose sole purpose was, and still is; to prevent World War 3."

"So how did you get into Vulcan? After all, you're only 16." Baird asked matter-of-factly.

"I was sworn into Vulcan two years ago, because my Grandfather was an original Vulcan, and my Father is currently the longest serving Vulcan in the organisation's history. And your family is the reason you'll be sworn into Vulcan; your father is a Vulcan officer."

"But if he's a military officer, how can he be a high-ranking official in a-" Karla was cut off by Zane who finished her question.

"Large multi-national corporation? Easy, the main offices of the company will be somewhere in the UK, the US, France and Russia, all of which will be owned by the respective nations governments. They act as front companies, something most nations do to cover up their paper and money trails among other things. They'll have minor offices all over the world; i.e Thailand, Cyprus, Hong-Kong and Kuwait to name a few."

"So you're saying that every time our Dad goes away on business, he's actually shooting at people?" Baird asked, slightly shocked by this revelation. All the countries that Zane listed; where one's that his Father had supposedly been on business.

"Not always Baird. Sometimes they'll go on training exercises with foreign Special Forces, others they go on reconnaissance ops. Your father was actually in Thailand carrying out business for the MNC he works for, but only for half the time he said he would be there. At the moment he's on his way back from Thailand, but when he left a week and a half ago; he first went to Switzerland, then went on a recon op in Iran, before finally going to Thailand."

"In all Vulcan operations; the officer or officers will head to their primary target nation to carry out their mission. If the op is scheduled for five days, they'll then spend five days in a country that has an office belonging to the front company to do business, providing that they're in a fit enough state."

* * *

><p>Selphy Horton had been taken to Eastbourne in order to try to lease with the police to try and find her Mother. The police had brought her to SOCA's Sussex HQ for officers from both the police and SOCA to identify possible locations for Susannah to have disappeared to, or in the unfortunate events that she'd been kidnapped; to discuss possible enemies.<p>

Selphy walked through the corridors on the second floor, following the detective sergeant who was in charge of the investigation. He showed her into an office off to one side from the rest of the chaos that happened during the day.

The DS walked in first followed by Selphy. She hadn't been thinking straight since the start of the ordeal, but she knew that she hadn't totally lost her marbles; especially when the door seemed to close by itself.

In that instance, Selphy turned to face the side of the door that had been obscured by the wooden door; only to find someone with a needle trying to inject her with something. Whatever was going on; she wasn't going down without a fight.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: done (unfortunately)<strong>

**To be honest I didn't want to finish on this cliff-hanger but this seems a bit long for just information about Vulcan. So meh.**

**Read and Review please.**


	7. Chapter 7: KIAY!

**Disclaimed**

Yo Durecel here, and to be honest the only reason I'm doing chapter 7 now; is because my back is killing me, so odds are I'm not going to be able to move until next year. (And yes, I am aware that I sound like an old man.)

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: KI-AY!<p>

Selphy hesitated briefly, luckily for her, so did her attacker. She went in for a front-kick into her foe's stomach, sending them back into the wall. She did even look when she unleashed a back-kick into the Detective Sergeant.

A sickening crunch could be heard when the kick made contact with the DS's nose. Seconds later; blood billowed out of both of the officer's nostrils.

Selphy quickly glanced at the DS to make sure he was out of action, before turning back to her original attacker. Whoever they were; they weren't going down without a fight either.

Selphy fired off an overtly powerful roundhouse kick at the male assailant. Now most people would block this type of kick; or get out of the way. This guy took the kick to his ribs before grabbing Selphy's outstretched leg.

The attacker lifted Selphy's trouser leg to reveal bare skin, before sticking the needle into the vein. As soon as whatever was in the needle was injected, the attacker let go of Selphy.

Whatever it was, it was incredibly strong; knocking Selphy out for the count not a minute after it was injected.

* * *

><p>Zane finished explaining about Vulcan, and was ready to condone the only check necessary for blood Vulcans; making sure the person(s) about to be sworn in; are who they say they are.<p>

Zane had brought a finger print recognition device in order to confirm that he'd abducted the right brother and sister; even though he was 100% sure they were. The siblings placed their right thumb onto the scanner, and then their left thumb's and waited for the machine to confirm it.

As the machine hummed, Zara received a phone call from SOCA.

"Selphy's been sedated, and is being transported here as we speak." Zara said to Zane, more than anyone else, as she put the phone down.

"Good, now we just have to wait for Christian." Zane said as he picked up the device as it had stopped humming. The screen showed that it was convincingly sure that Karla and Baird were indeed Karla and Baird. "And you two are definitely you two. So you can now be sworn into Vulcan. But I'm going to wait until everyone is here, updated and have undergone the CHERUB selection tests."

"Wait what do you mean: selection tests?" Baird asked, having heard the word: test.

"You don't think we let anyone join do you?" Zara asked rhetorically. "All potential candidates must go through entry tests to see if they're suitable for becoming spies. I wouldn't worry if I were you Baird; I'm assured you'll pass with flying colours." Zara stated.

"Yeah, you don't have an option to be honest." Zane threw in at the end.

* * *

><p>The next day was spent in an almost identical fashion in Zane's case. Both Selphy and Christian had been brought to CHERUB. Selphy had arrived earlier in the day after her skirmish with the DS and a SOCA officer, and Christian had been brought in later in the evening. Zane and Zara had gone through the whole introduction about CHERUB and Vulcan like they had the previous day with Karla and Baird. Selphy and Christian asked just as many questions, and answered all the questions they were given. Neither of them had shown an objection to joining CHERUB or Vulcan.<p>

* * *

><p>Now the day differed; all five of the martial artists had to undergo the CHERUB selection tests; starting with, what should be easy, self defence test.<p>

Each of the martial artists was paired up with an existing CHERUB of similar height and weight. Zane had been put with Greg 'Rat' Rathbone, a little Aussie whose accent was increasingly distant. Christian had been put with Bruce Norris, who looked, as the name suggested; like he was more than ready for a scrap. Selphy had been paired with Lauren Adams, Baird had been put with a kid called Connor Reilly, and Karla had to go with Dante Walsh.

The ten teenagers had been placed on a mat inside the resident dojo; the five CHERUBs sat on one side and the martial artists on the other. The first bout was between Zane and Rat.

Zane's plan was to let Rat win the first round in order to find the Aussie's weak-spot. But he didn't plan on going soft in the first round.

The two 16 year olds bowed and shuck each other's hand before commencing with beating the crap out of one-an-other.

Rat went straight in with a sidekick to Zane's chest; one of Zane's weaknesses, defending against a sidekick. He put his hands up in an X position to block the thrust kick, before exposing one weakness; dropping of the hands.

Zane let off a roundhouse-kick into Rat's exposed chest sending him backward. Zane went in to finish it off in the most reckless way possible; a jumping spinning kick. A jumping spinning kick is the most pointless kick in the world; it leaves the user open if it's dodged, and it's hard to do well. However, it worked. Rat was caught so off guard by the reckless kick that it knocked him to the ground.

Zane grabbed this opportunity by the scruff of the neck by putting Rat into an armbar. Rat submitted from round one, more than slightly pissed off. He'd been beaten by an outsider; and by a Pom no less.

Round two went off in a totally different way; Zane wasn't really in the mood for another round, so he just fired off a hook kick from his front leg. The kick was so unexpected that it hit Rat square in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

"Oops." Zane stated sarcastically.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: done (again: unfortunately)<strong>

**Please excuse that this is rushed, I would like to get to the final chapters where the real story starts, that and my back is killing me.**

**I wasn't originally going to go with this ending, I wanted to go into the tests; however, I think that would be better off in the next chapter. **

**And no I'm not hating on Rat, I quite like him in the books but you rarely see him fight, or at least I don't remember him doing so often.**


	8. Chapter 8: Exam Trouble

RIP those who have died in the attacks in Norway. Deepest sympathies from the UK, and I dare say from across the world as well.

Yo Durecel here, turns out the back problem healed up quicker than I expected so you guys won't have to wait until next year for an update. Ain't that great?

In other news, I've worked out that this story should be finished at the end of chapter 20, which in theory could be here as early as late October.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Exam Trouble<p>

After Zane knocked Rat out cold, he was moved onto the next test; Academics. The test he was given was two hours long and included some basic language and maths skills. The language questions were relatively simple, but as Zane progressed he understood why he had a scientific calculator on the desk.

Some of the maths questions were simple and had a mark saying no calculator allowed. These ones ranged from simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, along with a couple of surds questions and even a few quadratics thrown in the mix.

Whilst trying to solve these questions, he heard some noise from the dojo. But the most memorable sound was an almighty smack when Zane was trying to solve x2-40x+14=0.

Over the course of the two hours, everyone else came through into the test hall, with varying degrees of injuries, and completed their exams before Zane finished his.

Finally with the two hours up; Zane finished his exam.

He was moved to an office with Zara Asker in, as well as a chicken in a cage. As soon as Zane saw the chicken, he knew exactly what this test was.

"Do you like eating chicken Zane?" Zara asked with the most monosyllable voice that Zane had ever heard. It put his version to shame he thought.

"I know exactly where this is going Mrs Asker, so no; I'm not going to kill the chicken." Zane replied.

"That's not answered my question Zane."

"Fine, I'll go along with it. Yes I like chicken."

"Would you like to eat this chicken?"

"Not really. I'm not keen on the taste of feathers."

"I'm not sure I can argue with that." Zara said as she sat back defeated, or so Zane thought. "But I'm now telling you to kill it." Zane just let out a dejected sigh before replying.

"No."

"Are you refusing to carry out a direct order CO Wilkins?" Zara asked with supposed anger in her voice.

"Yes."

"Very well Zane. You can now move on to the next test."

* * *

><p>The next test was an obstacle course that started on the ground and finished in the trees about 20 metres up. It was a basic escalation course, which were far easier than obstacle courses.<p>

Zane stepped most of the gaps that were under a metre wide, and had a go at stepping the metre and a half wide gap at the end. Halfway through it he decided that it wasn't a smart idea and jumped it instead.

After looking at the distance he now had to plummet, Zane took a deep breath and pushed off the wooden plank. Zane looked at the mat he was going to land on, that was when he realised how fast he was going. He landed on his feet, bent his legs and finally rolled to the side and back onto his feet. Test four done.

* * *

><p>Zane stood at the edge of the pool. He wasn't supposed to have seen anyone go before him, but he had caught a glimpse of Baird dumping a brick on the pool's edge before getting out. Zane had hoped for a bit of a challenge. He was sorely disappointed.<p>

"Dive in, retrieve the brick, and swim to the other side." Zara told him as he looked at the brick through the water. Again Zane let out a sigh, not a dejected one, just a disappointed one.

'If this is the sort of shit they're going to put me through in Basic Training, I may consider hanging myself.' Zane thought to himself as he took his shirt off. He dived into the pool, and headed down to the brick. He thought about showing off before thinking that he should just get on with it.

He grabbed the brick, spun so that his stomach was facing the surface and then ascended to it. He reached the edge of the pool and dumped the brick on the ground.

Now all he wanted to do was have a bit of a swim around. He quelled this urge by getting out of the pool slightly depressed.

* * *

><p>All five martial artists stood in Zara Asker's office, where Zara sat behind her desk with the results of the tests. All five had passed the tests with an average of 96%, the highest anyone had passed with.<p>

Needless to say; the five were chuffed with the result, some more than others but that were beside the point. They didn't have the option to refuse acceptance and so the five were shown to the rooms that they had been in the previous night(s).

As they waited for the lift to take them up to the rooms, the five chatted about the entry exams and what they thought of them.

"Yeah, how come you were in the exam hall longer than anyone else Zane, and why'd you have a calculator?" Christian asked Zane as the elevator dinged for the third time.

"My exam was two hours long and had bits of A-Level maths in, so if you would like to solve three to the power x equals eighty without a calculator, be my guest." Zane said jokingly at the end. He stopped laughing when his phone began to ring. He checked it and found that it was a text from Adrian Smith, the father of Karla and Baird. The message made for grim reading. (*)

Adrian Smith

Location: Heathrow Terminal 3

Sit Rep: Contact with UNKOWN X-Rays

CQB

"Shit. You guys, go to your rooms now." Zane ordered as he pocketed the phone before sprinting back to Zara's office.

He burst into Zara's office, and told her what was wrong. As soon as he finished he started barking orders.

"Zara, you need to lock the compound down immediately. No-one gets in or out until I give an all clear. Get cleared military personnel to guard the compound. Anyone or anything suspicious turns up, stop-search 'em. If they've anything undesirable on them; arrest or shoot 'em." Zane instructed as he checked the room. Zara was surprised by the change in Zane as he rhythmically searched the room. "Also, I need the keys to one of the Evo's." Zane stated.

* * *

><p>The Evo's were a pair of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-360's. Zara hesitated but gave him a set of keys for one of the rally cars.<p>

Zane thanked Zara before dashing out of the room and headed towards the car park. He hit the unlock button as he dashed towards the brand new 11 plate Evos. The indicators flashed on the one he'd unlocked, he went to the boot of the car and took a ballistic vest out and hurriedly put it on.

He got in the car, started the engine, forced the gearstick into drive and drove out of the car park as if his life depended on it.

As soon as the blue rally car was out of sight of campus Zane floored the accelerator. The cars hadn't had any performance upgrades fitted; however they didn't need it; 360BHP and 360 lb-ft of torque more than made up for it. The cars had been fitted with flashing blue lights, siren, blacked out windows all round, and even had a firearms locker in the boot.

The speed, coupled with the lights and sirens, got Zane down to Heathrow's T3 in remarkable time. It wasn't remarkable enough though.

The Evo came to an abrupt stop outside a police cordon. They'd completely closed off the airport, both normal traffic and air traffic had to be re-directed to stay away from the incident zone.

He was let through the cordon before he gunned it down to Terminal 3. As he got closer to the entrance, he slowed the car down until he came to a total stop outside the terminal building.

Zane opened the firearms locker and took out an FN Five-seveN pistol along with a Heckler & Koch MP7A1, both with suppressors. He hooked an ID tag onto the ballistic vest before he proceeded in.

He saw bags and suitcases just abandoned in the check-ins. There was the odd firearms officer dotted about. They directed him to the location of the shooting; it had started in customs before it went to the baggage hall in the arrivals part of the building.

"There hasn't been any shots fired for a while, and we're searching the building for the people who started the whole episode." One of the sergeants informed Zane. "Apparently the first shooter was dressed as one of us."

"Great, just what we need." Zane let out before he began giving orders. "Stop any and all vehicles from leaving the cordon. Search **every** vehicle that tries to leave, take all occupants out of the vehicles, cuff 'em and have an officer with an MP5 aimed at them. They make a sudden move; shoot 'em." Zane told the sergeant before he left to search the building too.

* * *

><p>Upon entering the baggage reclaim, Zane almost wanted to drop his MP7, the room was total carnage; there were bullet holes everywhere Zane looked, as well as spent cartridges. The worst thing of all; were the seven or eight bodies of people who had been caught in the crossfire. They'd been covered up with white sheets, but the pools of blood that dotted the ground still made for a sore sight.<p>

Zane went to one of the smaller sheets, briefly removing the white cloth, to reveal a girl who couldn't have been any older than five, there were still streaks across the kids cheeks from where she must've been crying. Zane replaced the sheet before looking at another victim. This one hit home hardest. Underneath it was a girl who couldn't have been much older than Zane.

"What a shame, all this life unnecessarily wasted." Zane said as he replaced the cover and moved off to continue his search.

After a few hours the search was called off so the investigators could get in and begin an inquest into what had happened. Suspicious vehicles leaving the sight were searched, and about three arrests were made in the process.

All in all; five people had been arrested on terror charges, eighteen civilians had been killed in the crossfire, an unknown number was in hospital with varying degrees of injuries, two firearms officers had been killed also, three more were in hospital with GSWs, and Adrian Smith was MIA.

The day couldn't have got much worse, but it managed it. Zane got a phone call from the Intelligence Minister, telling him to get down to Brighton General Hospital ASAP.

Zane sped down the M23 on blue lights, at one point hitting 140mph. When Zane turned into the hospital; he felt like he was in Baghdad, not Brighton. The front of the building had been blown to bits by a hell of a lot of explosives.

Zane was greeted by the IM as well as the Chief Superintendent of Sussex Police. They went into the safest part of the building, which was the IM's main concern; it was the trauma unit which had been where the senior Vulcan officers had been resting after the RTC.

The beds that had been occupied by the Vulcans were now empty. Someone had abducted them.

"Zane I'm sorry that I have to be the one to break this news to you, but both your parents and the parents of the new Vulcans have been abducted." The IM informed Zane with utmost respect and sadness in his voice. "The only VFM that hasn't gone missing; is the infant girl, she's still in the infant trauma unit."

"So Demy Smith is the only one who is still here? Fuck." Zane collapsed onto the floor totally dejected by what had happened today. Someone was going to get it in the neck; there would be media frenzy unless the intelligence services could implement a cover up, and all senior Vulcans were MIA, as well as the other halves/mums and dads who had been abducted too.

* * *

><p>Zane left the hospital and drove, far more sedately than he had the rest of the day, to a viewpoint near Beachy Head. It was somewhere that he went to, if he could, to think over previousfuture events and just relax as well.

He got out of the car and sat on the bonnet. He pulled his phone out and looked through his contacts. He found the number he was looking for and hit the dial button. He eventually got through to the answer machine of the person he was ringing. Zane half listened to the voicemail instructions before speaking.

"Hey Dan, it's me. Listen mate I just need to talk to someone who knows the whole soldier game shit, but how to be a normal person too. Call me back as soon as you can mate, see you round." Zane cut the call there. At least he wasn't the only person in the world having major problems.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: done.<strong>

**Glossary:  
><strong>**Sit Rep = Situation Report  
><strong>**Contact = In a fire fight with enemies  
><strong>**X-Ray = Bad guy  
><strong>**CQB = Close Quarter Battle  
><strong>**BHP = Brake Horsepower  
><strong>**Lb-ft = Pounds foot of torque  
><strong>**RTC = Road Traffic Collision  
><strong>**VFM = a family member of a Vulcan officer**

**The character mentioned at the end (Dan) belongs to NoSorrow13.**

**Hmmm, this could've gone better I think but hey-ho. I've spent all day on it, and it hasn't come out as it went on in my head but hey shit happens.**

**Also in case you misread the X in Evo X, it's a roman numeral.**

**Yeah that's about it, next update coming soon.**


	9. Chapter 9: Switzerland

Yo Durecel here, looks like I'm on track for my late October finish if I keep this frequent updating up. Hopefully however, the chapters will be good too. If not, then October may not be the earliest possible finish.

Anyway; read, enjoy, and if you feel like it; review too.

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Switzerland<p>

Zane parked up the Evo in the car park on campus. He made his way slowly to the halls of residence, trying not to attract too much attention, or make too much noise; after all it was never a good idea to wake teenagers up in the middle of the night.

When he stepped out of the lift on the sixth floor, he was greeted by Selphy. Apparently she and the other junior Vulcans had waited to hear some news from him about what the hell had happened at Heathrow.

It had been the lead story on multiple news channels and websites. But after briefly watching BBC News 24, Zane worked out that the Firm had managed to implement a cover story; the reporters and presenters were discussing what had 'apparently' happened. They couldn't have got any further from the truth if they'd tried.

There'd been conspiracy theories ranging from terror cells to an electrical fire. Zane was glad that they'd implemented a cover up, but couldn't care less about what the story was.

"So if that's not what really happened, what did?" Selphy asked, sat on Zane's bed. Christian was in the room too; Karla and Baird however, had gone to bed a few hours ago.

Zane sighed heavily before replying. He really wasn't in the mood to be answering any questions, especially as he was only going to get an hour's sleep.

"Look, go to bed for an hour, then I'll explain it to you. I've got to be on a plane to Switzerland in a few hours, so I'll explain before I leave for Gatwick." Zane said as he yawned loudly.

* * *

><p>The news of the abduction of all junior Vulcans parents came as a shock. Selphy already knew about her mum's disappearance but she was still shocked about the revelation. The other junior Vulcans took it hard, the thought of losing mum and dad was never an easy one to take in especially when you didn't know whether they were still alive or not.<p>

Before Zane left for Switzerland he instructed Selphy to talk to Zara about bringing Rebecca, her sister, up to campus to go through the medical and possibly entrance exams. Selphy wasn't impressed with the idea.

"Why? She's only going to be a liability if we bring her here." Selphy stated, venom edging into her voice.

"Look, your mum's missing; she doesn't know where you are either. So when the cops find out, it's going to get suspicious, and people are going to start asking questions." Zane stated, drowsiness apparent in his voice

"OK, suppose you bring her here, and she doesn't pass the medical and entrance tests, then what? They put her in a home and then when she inevitably gets pissed; she goes blabbing her mouth off about CHERUB and possibly Vulcan, what are you going to do with her?" Selphy asked venom clear as day now.

"Selphy, you and I both know she hasn't got a hope in hell of getting in. But that's why you and every other agent here got drugged when being brought here. She won't know where campus is, and she'll probably be drunk so no one will believe her." Zane replied.

"Fine, but what are they going to do when she fails and they don't let her stay here?" Selphy asked, defeated.

"Odds are they'll put her in a foster home, until we find your mum, not far from here." Zane answered now slightly sympathetic.

After this Zane spoke to Karla and Baird asking them to ask Zara about bringing Demy up to campus; they were more than happy about asking to have their little sister live with them on campus.

* * *

><p>Zane slept the whole flight to Zurich, he was totally dead from the previous day and having to stay awake longer because of all the delays; that were the result from yesterday, didn't help.<p>

Zane took a bus and two taxis from the airport to his squadron's safe house on the outskirts of Zurich. It was the standard procedure when coming to Switzerland, or any other country for that matter, to take more than one method of transport to a safe house just in case you were being followed by an enemy spy or worse; an enemy assassin.

Zane entered the dainty Swiss house, on the shores of Lake Zurich, and thoroughly searched it to make sure that everything was in order. Thankfully it was.

After the search, Zane went straight to his father's study and found the safe. He unlocked the safe and found two keys; one belonging to his father, the other himself, and a scrap of paper that had been folded into his father's alternate wallet.

On the piece of paper was a six digit number, Zane had no idea what the numbers were, but he knew what they were for, and he was about to use them.

Zane took his Dad's Mercedes CL600 that had been parked up in the garage for almost a year, before proceeding to drive into the financial heart of Zurich. He parked the coupé up near the Central Square of Bahnhofstrasse, where he walked to one of numerous banks and financial service providers.

He went to speak to the receptionist who coldly asked him to fill out the account number on a card. Zane complied with the request and handed the card back to the woman. She then asked Zane to take a seat.

Zane waited for about five minutes before a stick of a man in a black suit approached him. He walked with such a spring in his step it almost looked like he'd had a spring shoved up his arse.

"Guten Morgen Herr Wilkins, how may I be of assistance?" The banker asked politely. It was clear to Zane this guy was new; and would turn out to be a pain.

"Good morning, I would like my safety deposit box and my father's as well." Zane said to the banker. The banker cringed when Zane said he wanted his dad's too.

"I can sort your box out Herr Wilkins, but I'm afraid I can't give you access to your father's." The man said with a slightly disappointed tone.

"On that basis, could you bring my father's contract up please?" Zane asked. The banker didn't expect this and wasn't sure what to do. After a moment's hesitation, he brought it up on his computer in his office. Zane then scrolled through the document until he found what he was looking for.

"Read that please." Zane instructed the banker as he turned the screen to him.

The banker complied and read the clause that Zane had pointed out. It had details of what should be done if Eoin Wilkins (Zane's father) became unable to travel to Switzerland. It stated that if Zane came to the bank and requested Eoin Wilkins SDB, and could prove it was him with; the key to the box, a photographic identity card of sorts, and a six digit pass-code he would be granted access.

"Very well Herr Wilkins, do you have these requirements?" the banker asked. Zane produced the key and his passport; he then entered the six digit number into the computer. The computer verified that it was the correct number, granting Zane access to his father's SDB.

Zane moved into a private suite with his father's SDB as well as his own. Zane took everything out of his father's box; memory sticks, credit cards, Omega and TAG Heuer watches, even a Mont Blanc Pen. He then lifted the bottom of the box out revealing thousands of dollars worth of money in several different currencies; American, Canadian, Australian, Hong-Kong, and Singapore dollars, pound sterling, Euros, Roubles, there were other currencies like Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, UAE Dirham, and oddball currencies like South Korean won, Brazilian Real and even Malaysian Ringgits.

The stuff that most people would find strange though; the passports, there were loads of them. All from nations were Eoin spoke the main language; USA, Australia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia and even more. The final thing to come out, which Zane was most careful with; a SIG Sauer P226 pistol, his Dad's favourite and in this case; most cherished pistol.

Everything was placed into Zane's SDB according to its importance. Money, credit cards, passports and gun were placed under the false bottom of the box. The memory sticks, watches and pen then went into top compartment of the box.

Zane replaced the lid on his father's box before taking about seven grand sterling of his own money out of his box; he then put the lid back on his box and left.

He returned to the house and replaced everything that he'd taken before heading back to the UK.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Done<strong>

**Next chapter will be basic training. I bet you can't wait for that can you?**

**I think this chapter turned out quite well actually. Not brilliant but well, so let's hope that chapter 10 is either as good or better.**


	10. Chapter 10: 54

Yo Durecel here, and we're now probably half way through at this point. Basic training this chapter; I'm not going to dwell on it too much as I only need this chapter to do it in.

* * *

><p>Chapter 10: 54<p>

Zane sat in the Evo X in the car park of Gatwick's south terminal. He connected to his voicemail to see if Dan had replied to Zane's earlier message. He had.

""Hey, I got your message. I also heard on CNN that some nasty shit went down at Heathrow. Are you okay? If you need anything at all, let me know. I can get a flight over at any time. Talk to you soon."

Zane hit the re-dial button, waiting for the phone to connect. He got Dan's answer machine again, but it was hardly a surprise; it was early in the States.

"Hey Dan, what happened at Heathrow's been covered up by MI6 but yeah some major shit happened. I'll be honest; I've been better; my Mum and Dad have been abducted by God knows who, half of my knew squadron don't trust me much, and the bastard IM's thrown me into CHERUB with them. And I've got to start their basic training tomorrow, so odds are I'll be un-contactable until July. See you round mate." Zane grovelled into the phone before ending the message.

About thirty seconds later, Zane's phone rang with Dan's name displayed on the caller ID. He picked up the phone, surprised his call was returned so fast.

"Hey, sorry I didn't pick up. It's early here and I was slow to get my phone from my desk across the room." Dan apologized.

"I see. Well, if you wanted me to call back later..."

"No no, it's fine. How are you holding up? What exactly happened?"

"Not well to be honest. A couple of days ago before I rang you one of the senior Vulcans was reported MIA in her home town, on the same day my Dad, the CO and two family members of another officer all end up in the same car crash.

"I then get a text saying that the Intelligence Minister wants to see me the next day, I see him the next day and he tells me that because of the crash I'm now the CO and that I have to train with CHERUB, bearing in mind I've already done a fair bit of training as you know."

"Right, how are the people involved?" Dan asked curiously.

"They've been better; the worst injury was the several month old daughter of one of the officers. She's the only one that was in the hospital that didn't get abducted though."

"OK, so the promotion; your now the CO of your squadron, correct?"

"Yeah, a sixteen year old CO. Never a good idea in my opinion." Zane complained.

"Congratulations though, what actually happened at Heathrow?"

"From what I can gather; the last senior officer walks through immigration when an armed police officer opens fire at him. Naturally he doesn't know what the fuck's going on, but then clocks it; he escapes into the baggage reclaim where a gunfight with the renegade officer, civilians and normal firearms officers take place.

"Somewhere in the midst of this, our man gets his hands on a firearm and starts to return fire. And in the end he gets abducted."

"Sounds odd,"

"Just a bit, and it gets odder. At the same time in Brighton, a similar thing happens just without the CQB. Medical staff told police that one of the medics walked into the ward that had the Vulcans in, as well as the VFMs at the time, and proceeded to reveal a firearm of sorts; at that point foreign military staff, according to the statements, entered the ward and took the Vulcan Officers and VFMs apart from Demy Smith with them. They proceeded to exit via the front of the hospital, killing any civilians that got in the way. A massive explosion demolished the front of the hospital. They've yet to be seen again." Zane finished. Whoever was responsible was going to die as far as Zane was concerned. "The statements seem to aim towards an enemy power of the state though."

"So someone's attacking the UK now?" Dan asked slightly worried.

"Quite possibly, maybe one of the senior's fucked up on an op and led to a foreign state, or states, discovering Vulcan. Hopefully they've only discovered my squadron, but if shit has truly hit the fan then expect similar attacks on your side of the pond and eventually full scale war."

"And on that sobering thought; what's wrong with your new squadron?"

"Basically two of them had to stay at my house after the car crash. I go see the IM and get told to drug them up for transporting to CHERUB HQ. I can't imagine that you'd be particularly happy if someone did that to you? I don't think they've realised that it was totally out of my hands and that I didn't actually want to do it."

"No I can't imagine I would've been happy if someone drugged me up and dumped god knows where. But how old are these two?"

"The youngest is a 12 year old lad and the eldest is a 14 year old girl."

"Well I can sort of understand where the 12 year old is coming from, and I can, albeit to a certain extent, with the 14 year old. If you think about it though Zane; you were 14 when you became a Vulcan."

"Good point, anyway thanks for the chat Dan. It's very much appreciated. Speak to you after basic training."

"Not a problem Zane, any time. And hopefully it'll go well as you've done worse with me."

And with that, the two soldiers hung up; satisfied that the other was OK at the moment. Whether the Brit would be after 100 days though; was anyone's guess.

* * *

><p>Zane had made sure to have three alarms set in case the infamous jokes about alarm clocks being stolen and or changed were true. He'd made two fairly obvious; alarm clock, and mobile phone. The third however was less obvious; the TV being set to turn itself on at the right time using a timer plug socket, the sort that people use when they leave their homes unattended for whatever reason.<p>

Luckily the TV wasn't needed; however it did help force Zane to stir his arse out of bed to turn it off.

Zane had given the other Vulcans instructions on what to do in order to be ready for basic training; the first was to wear your own underclothes and boots, second was to get haircuts so that they could get it washed quickly and not get as much shit, mud, blood the works stuck in it, and finally have more than one form of alarm clock in case the jokes were true.

Zane looked at the kit that had been dumped in his room whilst asleep; he could understand as to why it was a good idea to wear your own knickers after seeing the horrible and slightly green pair of boxers that had been left.

He looked at the shirt and trousers and saw that he had been assigned number 1.

"Fuuuuuuuuuck," Zane groaned lowly as he saw that he was first in the queue to probably get a good thrashing.

* * *

><p>Fortunately for Zane; all the other Vulcan's had taken his advice and were on time at the training compound at the far end of the campus. Unfortunately whoever number 7 was, he or she was late.<p>

"Welcome to basic training, I'm Mr Pike. You will refer to me as Mr Pike, or sir, nothing more and nothing less." Pike announced as he opened up the door to the compound. The compound was a total shed; there were rows of beds that had the numbers 1 to 10 on the ends, the mattresses looked like they were made of cinder blocks, they probably were. There was a lot of things that were totally horrid in the candidates quarters, but that was the least of the 9 candidates that were about to meet the infamous Ukrainian tactician and former Spetsnaz; Yosef Kazukov.

"Welcome to basic training maggots, I am Mr Kazukov." Kazukov stood at the side of the door and looked as though he was just stood there. However the 5 Vulcans noticed that something was out of place with his position.

As Zane was the first candidate, probably because of his CO status, he entered first wary of Kazukov. Zane noticed a rapid motion from his peripheral vision. Zane's instincts took over and made contact with a wrist a thicker than Zane's neck. Held in the wrist's hand was a bloodied warrior's blade.

"I see we have a boy with reactions." Kazukov boomed with his thick accent. "Where's number 7?" He questioned all the candidates.

"No clue... sir." Zane responded, still with Kazukov's outstretched arm now resting on Zane's.

"On that basis, stand at your beds and ready yourselves for 100 days of misery." Kazukov hissed.

* * *

><p>Day 21 Basic Training Compound<p>

The first three weeks of basic training had been a total bitch, but that didn't come as a great deal of surprise to the candidates. They'd been through the obstacle course more times than anyone cared to count and they'd learned all the short cuts and which route was fastest. No one had broken yet, but some of the younger, inexperienced CHERUBs were beginning to develop a crack or two.

Today's lessons brought a world of pain in the form of; kumite*, languages, and weapon assembly/disassembly. Well for the CHERUBs anyway. The Vulcans had a greater world of pain in the form of assassination techniques.

If you could apply to become a Vulcan officer the job description would have in big bold capitals; assassin among other things. Being an assassin was the key role though, and Vulcan's have to find out what type of assassin they are before they can then train accordingly.

In this cruel bitch of a world we live in, there are three types of assassin; subtle, obvious and neutral. The subtle ones are the type whose work you'll hear about only because someone important has died of natural causes or because of a 'freak accident' not because they were 'assassinated'. The clue's in the name with obvious assassins; you know the victim was assassinated; whether it was by gunshot, knifing or explosives is neither here nor there. And neutral are the jack of all trades master of none.

However just because an assassin is subtle or obvious one doesn't mean they don't know some of the tricks of the opposite's trade, after all variety is the spice of death.

The Vulcan's had worked out that they were all neutral assassins and now came the day they practised the traditional method of assassination; using a sniper rifle.

"We have managed to collect a variety of rifles for you to try and see which one you prefer." Kazakov announced as he entered the firing range of CHERUBs campus.

The firing range was split into eight blocks; each block had its own target board and sniper rifle. The eight rifles in question included a Steyr HS .50 anti-materiel rifle, a Heckler & Koch HK417 and an experimental Barrett XM109 among other rifles.

"You have five minutes on each rifle; get a feel for them and choose your favourite, then we'll have a little competition." Kazakov instructed the five Vulcans.

"Hopefully it won't be a Battle Royale," Christian whispered in Zane's ear making him smile.

"Number's one and three; 50 press ups for back chatting." Kazukov gave Zane and Christian.

"Yes sir," they accepted unanimously before getting on with the press ups on their knuckles.

Once Zane and Christian had finished their punishment they had joined the other Vulcans in choosing their sniper rifle. They all eventually arrived at their preferred choice and began the task of discovering who would be the primary and secondary snipers of the team.

The first distance was 100 metres away from the target with no scope. All five Vulcan's managed three shots within the bulls-eye. Everyone was slightly surprised when Karla's target board exploded after the first shot.

It turned out that the XM109 didn't use 50 cal rounds like everyone suspected, instead it used something bigger; it used 25mm grenades.

"I like this even more now." Karla remarked with a sly grin as she reloaded the cannon type gun.

All five Vulcans had moved up to 500 metres, with scope, having managed all distances with above average scores for normal soldiers. Christian was at the top of the leader board with Karla and Zane just trailing him, Baird was on his own in the table and Selphy was about to be knocked out of the selection test because of a 93 percent rule.

The 93 percent rule was a rule that meant anyone who didn't score above 93 percent of the leader's score was out. So if Christian had scored 100 points, Selphy would have to score 93 or more to stay in the test.

Unfortunately for her; she didn't manage it at 400 metres. Her preferred gun of choice would stay as her preferred sniper rifle though.

The contest continued on for another few hundred metres until Baird couldn't surpass the 93 percent rule and was left in fourth place with his M89 sniper rifle.

The distances were now getting stupid; Zane just missed out on the bulls-eye at 600 metres with the Dragunov sniper he'd chosen, and was instantly knocked out of the running by Christian who was still on top of the list but only just.

Now things were getting interesting; Karla and Christian had now managed to reach ranges exceeding two miles. Both Karla's XM109 and Christian's Steyr HS-50 were being pushed to their maximum ranges. Because of the extreme ranges they were reaching they'd agreed on a sudden death match; whoever won this would be the squadron's sniper.

Each shot was either just within the yellow target or just outside, neither sniper was giving an inch. That was until;

"Gotcha'," Christian let out when he realised that he'd hit the bulls-eye. The pressure was now on Karla to equal Christian's previous shot.

The perspiration apparent on her brow would refuse to drop as Karla halted her breathing mid exhale. She'd lined the sights up appropriate to the conditions, now she squeezed the trigger.

Bulls-eye.

Karla let out a slight sigh of relief now that she'd managed to keep the contest going.

Now Christian had to try and repeat his last feat. Easier said than done. Christian lined up his sights to where he had them his previous shot; he stopped his breathing mid exhale and pulled the trigger.

"Fuck." Christian knew he'd screwed that shot up before it hit the target board purely and simply because he hadn't squeezed the trigger. He'd just missed the bulls-eye by a few millimetres.

"Okay. No pressure. Easy does it girl and then this is over." Karla sighed as she took up aim for what she hoped would be the final shot in the contest.

A distant boom from the 25mm grenade could just be heard after a brief pause. Karla had managed it; a double bulls-eye at over two miles distance.

"Congratulations Karla," Christian said as he gave her a slight embrace. The rest of the squad soon followed in congratulating her.

* * *

><p>Day 54 Basic Training Compound<p>

It was early morning and the recruits were tackling the obstacle course for the umpteenth time. Zane and Karla were ahead reaching the final marker before the finish. All they had to do now was crawl underneath the barbed wire as if they were in the no-man's land of the eastern front during the First World War, and then they'd be at the final marker.

Now Zane was out of the wire he helped Karla up before they tackled the tire hoops. The pair tried to run through the field of tires, Zane just about managing it but Karla looked as though she was about to fall at any given moment.

Zane was trying to will her on but she was getting tired. Just then she stumbled and hit the deck, exhausted.

"Karla! C'mon girl get up you can do this," Zane tried to reassure her as he picked her up. He could see there was no immediate damage done and Karla wasn't complaining about any particular part of her body that was in pain.

Zane had wrapped one of Karla's arms around his shoulder whilst he'd wrapped his around her, trying to keep her up.

"Zane, let go of me," Karla spoke weakly. "I can't carry on anymore, I can't." She said turning her head away from Zane.

"Don't say that sorta shit Karla. You've managed to get over half way through this. You are not quitting now, understood?" Zane ordered, hoping she'd see sense. Both of them were tired, neither of them wanted to be here, and they were up to their ears in mud and God knew what else.

"Zane, I'm not cut out for this. Just please let me stop." Karla began to beg. Her eyes were beginning to well up, the odd tear streaking down her cheek. Zane could see she was upset, and it pained him to see her cry. He didn't want to upset her any further so he stopped them a few feet away from the final jog to the end.

Zane put his hands on Karla's shoulders. His eyes looking straight into hers, her eyes pleading with him; begging him to let her stop this never ending torture on her body and mind.

"Karla, you're stronger than this. I wouldn't have let you start this if I didn't think you, or the others were ready to finish this." Zane encouraged. "Don't start thinking you can't do this, you **can **do this." Zane wasn't about to let one of his Vulcan's drop out this easily, and he especially wasn't going to let Karla drop out this easily.

"I'm not sure whether I **can** last another 46 days of this," Karla said between sobs. Zane pulled her closer to him, putting his arms around her just letting her get it all out of her system. Karla gripped Zane's shirt, pressing her face against his chest. She felt that he was stroking the back of her hair, reassuring her.

She didn't know what it was about Zane; but she felt secure and stronger with him. She didn't know whether she felt this before all this started however she did now.

"C'mon, I'm not letting one of my Vulcan's drop out now." Zane said to her as she pulled away to see his face. Zane wiped the tears from her face before he held her hand. "C'mon, lets finish this."

* * *

><p>Day 97 Pahang Rain Forrest, Malaysia<p>

The practical 'exam' that takes place at the end of Basic Training had returned to the Malaysian Rain Forests again, this time however there was a little twist. For the first time; firearms firing simulation rounds were to be used by the staff members who would be trying to track the recruits down. The recruits aim was to get to a little shack on the outskirts of the Cameron Highlands district.

To make the challenge even tougher for the Vulcan's; if they got shot then they'd be expelled from basic training and have to do it again. The normal CHERUBs had it slightly easier; if they got shot they'd get punishment laps when they got back to campus.

They'd now been in the forest for a day and Zane and Karla were about a day away from the compound they were heading for. Zane had performed similar tasks to this on actual operation, so he knew how not to get shot, and Karla knew that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she managed to fall at this last hurdle, especially with all the heart ache that she'd put herself and Zane through.

The two Vulcan's were high above the ground, moving from one tree to the next. Apart from trying not to be seen by a staff member, the only thing slowing them down was their packs. They'd relieved themselves of all items that were totally unnecessary; cutlery, machete (they were trying to be stealthy, and Zane still had his ceramic blade in-case) amongst other such shit, however the packs were still incredibly heavy.

About half a day later and the duo were beginning to notice more staff dotted about the place, they were definitely getting close to the compound now, however the more staff there were; the higher the risk of getting shot was.

Zane stopped as he turned around to face Karla. She could see that he had a plan; one that she probably thought was a bit risky if not stupid.

"I'm going to take out one of the staff, I need you to be ready to grab their gun and use it on them if you have to. OK?" Zane whispered in her ear.

Karla was right this was a stupid idea. She didn't get much chance to voice her objections as Zane had removed his pack and hung it on a branch.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Karla whispered loudly enough for only Zane to hear.

"Nope." Zane answered before jumping off the branch. Karla looked over the branch expecting to see Zane crumpled on the floor with a broken leg or something of the sort.

On the contrary; Zane landed feet first, bending his legs before rolling to the right. He was now behind Mr Speaks, ready to take his head off if he had to.

Speaks looked so surprised by the sudden appearance of Zane that he didn't react against Zane's punch to the solar plexus, winding him instantly. Zane followed up with a palm strike to the jaw flooring the beefy man. Zane pulled him and whispered into his ear; "You're dead, now stay dead." Zane made the motion of snapping Speaks' neck without actually breaking it.

Just as Zane was standing up he heard the rapturous clack of an assault rifle going off in front of him. Zane's instant reaction was to get his head down. He brought it up when he heard something make an unceremonious thump behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw another staff member on the ground. He didn't know who it was, nor did he care, right now he was happy that he could get some additional fire power.

He saw that Karla was holding the AK-47 that once belonged to Mr Speaks; he also saw that it was the smoking gun that shot the person behind him. Zane let out a relieved sigh before he retrieved a few extra magazines of ammunition for the Kalashnikov as well as the Beretta Px4 pistol that was strapped to Speaks. The two Vulcans managed to take a few more magazines of ammunition for the Kalashnikov and Berretta plus a suppressor for the pistol. The bonus was the radio that Karla nabbed off of Speaks.

Zane and Karla scrabbled back up the tree with their newly earned firearms and took off. They wanted to get as far away from the scene as possible so they didn't get into a losing battle.

"That was a stupid idea Zane; you could've got both of us shot there." Karla scolded the senior officer.

"I did say I wasn't sure about the plan, but did we get shot? No, by the way; good shot." Zane retorted to the girl's outburst.

The complement caught Karla off guard a bit, but she begrudgingly thanked her partner for it.

A few hours later the pair were on top of the compound, the radio chatter was relatively relaxed despite two of the staff members being 'killed' by one of the pairs.

Zane didn't dare speak; he was now using hand signals to direct his and Karla's actions. They were going to attack Mr Pike who was guarding the front entrance and then make their way to the rear of the compound which would hopefully be left unguarded after the ruckus at the front of the compound.

Karla fired off two small bursts of the Kalashnikov; one missed on purpose and second just hit the mark. Pike cried out in pain from the simulation hitting him dead centre, he wasn't too happy about the double tap that Zane pulled on him.

The two Vulcans heard shouts from around the compound, all were wondering what the hell just happened, the radio began to liven up a bit. One particular message over the air made Karla smile;

"How the hell did they get here this early?" With skill and a bit of dumb luck, was Karla's response in her head.

Zane's plan was right on the ball; the people guarding the rear had rushed to the front to check on Mr Pike. Now all they had to do was get in without getting shot.

The two Vulcans climbed down from the trees, steadily but quickly making their way to the rear door, always alert of the surroundings. Zane took the Kalashnikov off of Karla and handed her the Beretta.

"You kick the door in; I'll make sure that no one's still standing. Karla, you take out anyone I miss, got it?" Zane whispered.

"Yeah, let's do this," Karla replied before kicking the door almost off its hinges. Zane let the AK rip, weaving the gun left to right, filling the room with round upon round of simulation bullets.

The pair proceeded into the room cautiously, softening their footsteps, keeping their heads low as they progressed into the next room.

"Well, look what we have here," Mr Kazakov commented as he looked at the crouching Zane. "Congratulations Commanding Officer Wilkins and Medical Officer Smith. You've passed Basic Training a day and a half early."

* * *

><p>Day 100 Compound near the Cameron Heights District, Malaysia<p>

There were only a few minutes left before the end of Basic Training. There was only one pair left to return.

That was until they crashed in through the ceiling. Mr Pike and Mr Kazakov didn't take too kindly to the 'party' but right now they'd completed Basic Training. (They'd regret it when they got back to campus though.)

"Welcome all, now for your final test." Pike motioned for the slightly dumbfounded agents to sit down. They all complied and sat down on the camper chairs that had been erected in a row.

The Vulcan's were all aware of Kazakov's presence next to the wall. They were even more on edge when he moved what looked like a rope downward.

"CATCH!" Wailed Pike as something dropped from the ceiling. All the agents caught the objects; they turned out to be boxes with each recipient's number on them.

"Open them if you dare," Pike spoke slightly menacingly.

Within the boxes where grey CHERUB T-shirts. They'd all passed. But there was more in the four new Vulcan's boxes; their parade uniform, like the one that Zane had worn on the days that he'd explained everything to Karla, Baird, Christian and Selphy.

"Congratulations to you all, you were fucking phenomenal."

* * *

><p><strong>*Kumite=sparing<strong>

**Hallelujah chapter 10 is finished!**

**For those who wanted to know how Baird, Christian and Selphy got on I'm sorry about that but I wanted the chapter to revolve around Zane and Karla because of what I've got planned. 3:) **

**In all honesty I think day 54, which you might've guessed by the chapter name is quite important, was a bit rushed and I've mixed emotions about days 97 to 100.**

**Also, Dan Klein belongs to NoSorrow13; check his profile out and subsequently his facebook page for updates on his story series; Taskforce 13, redeploying soon.**

**And on that bombshell please leave a review, and if you do can you please say which is currently your favourite chapter and why. Thank you very much for reading the first half of Vulcan; New Beginnings.**


	11. Chapter 11: Thanks

Yo Durecel here, some of you might've noticed that chapter 10 took forever to be loaded up and were probably thinking now here's the next three month wait for another not so well written (on my part) chapter. Anyway without further ado; my fourth most waited for chapter;

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: Thanks<p>

The Vulcans and compatriots had returned from Malaysia overnight and had spent most of the morning asleep. All of them were totally exhausted from the vigorous training regime that they'd spent the last 100 days following. Well all of them apart from Zane.

Zane had been in the gym since 0600 working purely on upper body strength. He'd worked on various machines with no breaks in between. Some would've said that he was a fool for how rigorous his work outs were, but he believed in just getting on with it as there was no excuse for laziness.

He moved on from the machines to the open space, just so he could do a range of press-up exercises. He tried ploughing through 50 press-ups on his knuckles as slowly as possible; the prolonged strain on the arms increasing the difficulty. It was Zane's way of making up for his weight issue; or lack of it rather.

Zane wasn't a large or muscular chap, he was closer to a garden rake; long and slim, and he hated himself for it. He wasn't bigorexic; however he wasn't far off it. All he wanted; was to be proud of his body, and he was anything but.

He'd moved from the press-ups on his knuckles to his fingertips. After five his fingers began to tremble, his arms began to lock up just refusing to move. Zane was screaming at himself in his mind; using the sort of language that would make a marine blush.

Eventually his muscles gave way, landing him on the floor face first. "FUCK!" Zane screamed, bright red from the work out, plus the rage and self hatred that was brewing within; "You useless piece of shit!" he truly was angry.

* * *

><p>Karla had woken up early but she'd stayed in her bed even though she still had a slight adrenalin buzz from the end of Basic Training. There was something else though, something that she couldn't quite understand; she had Zane on her mind. She would see him; scuffed up, covered in blood and sweat because of all the effort and stress that Basic Training put on him. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see Zane. She even dreamt about him sometimes; acting like a normal happy couple. Wait, what? Zane and herself; a couple?<p>

Karla sat up and swivelled her legs off of her bed. She rested her chin on her hand, contemplating why Zane was on her mind. Could it be because of how he made sure that she got through Basic Training, was she just naturally attracted to him? It wasn't as if Zane was cute or by any means physically pleasing, yet she still found herself thinking about him.

She leapt off her bed, and slipped into something more appropriate. She silently slipped out of her room before heading for the lift. She waited patiently before getting out on the floor below hers, walking briskly to Zane's room. She knocked on the door, where she waited for a few minutes before knocking on it again. She didn't want to bang on the door in case she woke any of Zane's neighbours up, although she was beginning to become impatient.

Karla looked at the door handle and wondered if it was locked. Amazingly, it wasn't. So either Zane was totally dead from the flight back from Malaysia so he forgot to lock his door, or he was in a rush out and didn't lock it. She soon discovered it was the latter reason.

Zane's bed was in a mess, but it was empty.

"Where is he then? He normally says he's a lazy shit, doesn't look it though." Karla said to herself. She sat on the bad thinking where he might be. Her logic went along the lines of; he's slightly thin so I doubt he's in the cafeteria, there's no noise from the bathroom so he's not in there, let's try the gym.

* * *

><p>Zane rolled over onto his back before throwing his legs upward then back down then launching his top half up at the same time, standing up. He noticed that his face was so red that he looked like Mr. Tomato-Head. He ripped his shirt over his head and saw that his body was just as red. He noticed that some form of muscle had been forming during his curse ridden self-abuse, and that he looked as though he'd just come out the shower.<p>

"S'well," Zane sighed. He'd got himself worked up again because his body had failed his mind's ambition. He went to get himself a drink of water from his kitbag, inside he found his water bottle as well as his towel, which he used to wipe some of the sweat off.

He was about to go over to the cycling machines and finish off for the day with a half hour warm down.

* * *

><p>Karla pushed the door to the gym open, revealing a range of equipment; some that looked incredibly high-Tec, and others that looked more like torture devices. She saw Zane to the right of the room moving to one of the cycling machines probably about to use one of them.<p>

On closer inspection she saw that he was knackered, his face, body and arms were pink and sparkling from the light reflecting off of the beads of sweat that Zane failed to wipe off. She let a whistle off before speaking.

"Wow, and here was me thinking you were lazy." Karla said as she continued into the gym.

Zane looked up to see Karla walking in. He was a little bit surprised to see her up so early, especially after the events of the last 100 days.

"Yeah I like giving everyone that impression, anyway; what are you doing up so early?" Zane asked quizzically.

"I could ask you the same thing." Karla answered as she walked around a row of running machines.

"Well ladies first," Zane replied to the younger girl's retort. Zane noted that her hair didn't have the natural wave about it that it normally had; she'd probably only just woken up. 'Please don't let it be the torrent of swear words earlier that's woken everyone up.' Zane thought at the realisation.

"Always the gentleman I see," Karla started as she sat facing Zane, on the saddle of the cycling machines, "I was having trouble sleeping,"

'Crap' Zane thought in his head hearing those words. 'If she heard me on the eighth floor, I'm more than screwed.'

"I can't seem to get something out of my head; it's strange as I don't know why I started thinking about it." She said looking down at the other machine next to hers. She looked up at him, 'Why do you look better up close then how I used to remember you?' she thought.

"Is there anything I can do to help you get, whatever it is, out of your head?" Zane asked, trying to look and sound as normal as possible.

"I'm not sure to be honest Zane, but thank you, for everything." Karla acknowledged.

"I… you're welcome I think." Zane replied surprised by the comment. "Not too sure what I did though Kar…!" Zane was cut off by Karla kissing his cheek. Zane was now thankful that he was bright red otherwise he'd have gone bright red all over again.

"I meant for how you helped me through Basic Training on day 54, and after that. I'm not sure how I'd 've gotten through another 100 days without you," Karla explained sincerely. She brushed a lock of her hair out of her face, looking up at him with a small smile.

"Thank you Karla, thank you." Zane responded, finally letting his nerves escape him.

"What for?" Karla asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"For helping me get through Basic Training too. I couldn't have done it without you."

"What do you mean?" She was slightly confused now; wasn't it Zane who had helped her through it, not the other way around?

"I mean; thinking about you, and the ones I love help me get through some of the toughest obstacles that even the best would struggle with." Zane leant closer to Karla; they could feel each other's breathing on their skin. Zane lightly kissed Karla on the lips before whispering into her ear, "I love you Karla Smith, and thank you; for being you." Zane moved away before he spoke again. "I suppose I'd better teach you something important." Zane said as if the last few moments hadn't happened.

Karla sat there trying to take in what had just happened as if she was in a trance. She woke up after she'd registered what Zane had just said. "Something important?"

"Yeah, how to cope with the toughest shit life throws at you." Zane answered over his shoulder as he went to go grab his kitbag.

* * *

><p>Zane had brought Karla back to his room; he was having a quick shower whilst Karla laid on Zane's bed. After five minutes Zane emerged from the bathroom with his head in his towel, trying to dry his hair with it fighting back.<p>

Eventually he won though, tossing the towel back into the bathroom as he started looking for a shirt of some description. He found one soon after, and was about to sit down next to Karla when he noticed a box.

"When'd that get here?" Zane asked no one in general. On inspection it turned out to be from Japan. "Finally, I've been waiting for these for 18 months." Zane said relieved.

"What is it?" Karla asked as she sat up from Zane's pit.

"My daishō."

"Zane, I speak fluent Japanese like you, but I have no idea what you just said."

"It's basically an abbreviation for long and short sword, traditionally the combination of a Katana and a Wakizashi. It was a samurai tradition and purely a samurai one, no one else was allowed to possess a daishō." Zane explained.

"So why do you have one?" Karla asked jokingly.

"The samurai died out not long after World War 2, so the tradition can't be enforced anymore." Zane replied. He opened the box and after much faff, he found his two swords. "Beautiful,"

"More so than me?" Karla asked, partially joking partially serious, as she placed her head on Zane's shoulder.

"Of course not," Zane reassured her as he got used to the weight of the long sword in his hand, not releasing it from its sheath yet. "I doubt I'll ever lay eyes on someone or something as beautiful as you Karla." Zane continued to wave the sheathed blade around carefully. Once Karla sat down again Zane drew the long sword to give it a quick inspection, the handcrafted blade gleaming from the artificial light.

Zane soon replaced the placed blade into its sheath, pressing the hilt to make sure it was secure, and then placing it back into its box. He turned his attention to Karla.

"So what is it that you want to teach me?" Karla questioned as she pulled her legs to her chest.

"I want to see if I can find a way for you to relax yourself in times of stress or danger." Zane said as he sat next to the girl, wrapping his arm around her back pulling her closer. "Everyone has ways or a single way to get through tough times," As Zane said this; he pulled a remote out from his bedside table and aimed it at nowhere in particular. "I've three ways; gaming, thinking of those I love, and music." Karla watched as Zane pressed a button on the remote. She noted that it was for a Bang & Olufsen stereo system, but she hadn't seen any speakers in the room.

There was a pause between Zane pressing the button and something happening; four small speakers seemed to rotate out of the ceiling. They were peculiar in design, the circular bottoms rotating out of place with the ports they once concealed. Above the circular dish was a triangular pyramid structure that didn't seem to house a speaker.

Turned out that Zane had bought the system before Basic Training and had it installed along with soundproofing whilst in Basic Training. There was even a waterproof system in the shower now too.

"Some music relaxes you, some enrages you, and some makes you think." Zane said as he hit play. Instantly Karla's ears were assaulted by heavy metal. The guitar rift was incredibly fast, and when the singer actually started singing; my God you've never heard anything like it. In Karla's opinion it was awful.

"Zane, can I just say that this is shit." Karla informed the older boy. Zane couldn't help but laugh at her comment.

"Just listen to the lyrics; you'll see what I mean." Zane said before beginning to slightly banging his head against air. Karla watched him, but thought she might as well listen and see if what Zane said was true.

In the first 50 seconds Karla heard something about pointed heals, victorious repeated twice and something about 'Brand new spanking deals!' at this moment in time it didn't make sense, however, when she heard;

"You depend on our protection, yet you feed us LIES from the table cloth!" It made Karla think about how shit this so called music was, but more importantly that it sort of related to her current situation with the whole Vulcan thing; people depended on Vulcan's protection but sometimes she was lied to; like when Zane drugged herself and her little brother up. It didn't make her feel angry at Zane anymore; she now understood why he had to do it now.

Karla understood what Zane meant by music making you think. It didn't excuse his poor choice in music though.

After nearly four and a half minutes of some form of singing and screaming the so called song ended. Zane stopped the system so it didn't start playing any other form of music.

"See what I mean?" Zane asked looking at Karla.

"Yeah it can make you think, and one thing it made me think was; you have appalling taste in music."

Zane couldn't help but laugh again at the girl's comments.

"Yeah, metal is never anyone's cup of tea first time round, it's something you get into with time. I was a bit foolhardy playing System of A Down first, even though behind all the odd singing and slight screaming every now and then; there was a general purpose to that song." Zane explained. "It's about the US government sending troops into Iraq in 2003; that's what the line 'Why don't presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?' meant."

Karla nodded in agreement slightly sheepish about the whole thing though.

"I'll put something a bit softer on." Zane responded to Karla's apparent dismay at having to hear another song.

It wasn't all bad though, it was much softer in comparison with the first song, but it was still rock and roll in the form of Zane's favourite band; AC/DC.

Once 'Are You Ready' ended Karla asked for Zane to let him plug her iPod in so he could listen to some real music in her opinion.

"Yeah sure, why not?" Zane rhetorically asked as he got up to switch the iPods. Karla pressed play and the first thing to come on was something totally different and unheard of from Zane's point of view.

"Adele, Set Fire To The Rain. Now this is what I call music." Karla said as Zane slumped back onto his bed next to her.

"You're kidding right? This is shite." Zane teased.

"At least she can sing, and not scream." Karla criticised. Zane rolled his eyes in a jokey fashion earning him a playful shove from Karla.

"I will get you into pop music even if it kills me." Karla told Zane matter-of-factly.

"And I will get you, if not into metal, at least into hard rock even if that kills me." Zane replied half joking half serious as he pulled the girl he loved closer to him.

**Chapter 11: Done.**

**Thank you for reading this, hopefully it's good even though this sort of thing doesn't play to my strengths (which you may have noticed). Also if you're wondering which are my top three anticipated chapters; I haven't written them yet but they are going to be the final three. **

**By the way; I'll be amazed if anyone gets the name of the heavy metal song that played first, leave your thought in a review. Preferably with a review too though.**

**Not much else to say except leave a review please :D**


	12. Chapter 12: Nerves

Yo Durecel here, excuse the slightly different writing style; I've been reading the Death Note manga a bit too much probably. Plus I am monumentally pissed off right now. That is all.

* * *

><p>Chapter 12: Nerves<p>

A week had passed since Basic Training had finished. All of the people who had been on the training course were free to have the week off as per CHERUB regulation, a respite to calm the mind and nerves.

Each of the Vulcan's had taken different steps to recompose themselves after the torturous 100 days. Christian had spent most of his week either watching classic Grand Prix races; including the iconic 1987 British Grand Prix, or some form of cardio or muscle training.

Selphy had spent two of her days seeing her sister, Rebecca, fail the CHERUB recruitment tests mostly because of how she was on the verge of alcoholism. After that she had sat down with Rebecca and tried to sort out a truce between themselves, at least until they knew what fate had befallen their mother. Selphy then spent the rest of her time with Christian training in no specific area of fitness.

Baird had taken to lounging around in his room either playing Gears of War 2, or some iteration of Call of Duty, that was unless Zara Asker was bending his ear in order to get him to do something constructive; like help look after Demy with Karla.

Zane had spent his week off making sure his Vulcans were all OK. He'd spent some time with Christian and Selphy when they were training, as well as help Baird look after Demy when the pair of them weren't chain-sawing virtual monsters on Gears. This was part of Zane's way of getting back into Baird's good-books. The rest of his time was spent either with Karla, or more boringly, in his view, looking at specifications for operations that the new Vulcans could be assigned.

Despite having spent some of her week with Zane, Karla had had a slightly tumultuous time thinking about her parents, her little sister, Baird's bitter association with Zane, or any other dull spark of negative information that had brought itself to Karla's attention.

She didn't want to bother Zane about it as she felt he had enough on his plate as it was; what with Selphy and her sister, Baird and him, and not to mention the operations that were currently on the cards. So she asked to see Zara about it. She wasn't aware of the fact that Zara had asked Zane to join in with her though.

* * *

><p>"So Zane, how are the specifications for the Vulcan's first missions?" Zara asked the commander sat opposite her in her office. She took a sip of coffee from the mug she was holding, waiting for Zane's response.<p>

"So far, so good, however…" Zane began to reply, holding his fingers loose in front of the lower half of his face. His right thumb resting on the nail of his left. Zane pausing, his eyes looking to his left; beginning to recall something in his mind's eye.

"However?" Zara asked curious about what Zane was going to say.

"The operation in Northern Ireland," Zane continued, re-focusing his intention on Zara. "looks too similar to my first op." Zane's eyes narrowed as he thought about what he was suggesting.

"Go on," Zara urged. Unfortunately there was a knock on the door. Karla was outside.

"Perhaps after this," Zane offered as he stood up to get the door. He opened it letting Karla into the office.

Karla looked at Zane, happy but surprised to see him there. "What are you doing here?" She asked softly out of earshot of Zara.

"Zara asked me to come along, why would you rather I wasn't here?" Zane suggested understanding Karla's position.

"No, no I just didn't want to burden you with anything else to worry about." Karla replied a little caught off guard by Zane's suggestion.

"You wouldn't be a burden Karla, it's my job to make sure you're alright both as your CO and your boyfriend." Zane replied, kissing Karla's forehead lightly. "C'mon, sit down and we'll work out what the problem is."

Karla had began by explaining that she didn't feel as confident as the other new Vulcan's appeared to be with their first ops just over the horizon. As well as this however she was afraid about her first op. When asked about what aspect; she didn't know was her answer.

The meeting went on for an hour and a half; it was basically Zara explaining to Karla that there was little to be worried about, as well as that it was the right thing for her to do; to see Zara. Zara gave evidence to ease Karla's emotions as well as Zane's by using reports from Dante Welsh's three year long operation in Northern Ireland which had been a resounding success with no casualties.

Zane realised what Zara was doing, but it still didn't stop the fact that it looked way too similar to his first operation.

Eventually they all arrived at the conclusion that it would make sense to go to the mission prep building and get the two Vulcans prepared properly.

The walk from the main building to the mission preparation building gave Zane some time to think about what happened after his first operation went tits up.

* * *

><p><em>Zane moved swiftly and silently along the side of the corridor where the guard had been. The<em>_room was windowless from the corridor,_ _so Zane had no idea what was on the other side._

_The knife was sheathed, and the FN Five-seveN was drawn. Zane pressed his right ear against the door; there was at least one person in, however the voice that could be heard was totally muffled._

_Zane kicked the door, just underneath the handle, almost taking it off its hinges._

_What Zane saw was like something out of Schindler's List; a tall man stood over someone with his right hand pointed down at an angle. As the man began to turn, it was obvious that he had a chrome plated pistol in his right hand and was about to aim it at Zane._

_Unfortunately for him, Zane was already in a better firing position; two rapid squeezes of the trigger made two distinct 'clacking' sounds as the suppressor did its work. There was a muffled thud as the two bullets entered the man's face. There was no need to check if he was dead; as half of the right side of his head slid off, whilst the rest of the body fell backwards, a dull thud compared to the two empty cartridges that clinked and clanked on the floor._

_Zane quickly checked his left flank, no other guards were in the room; good._

_Zane closed the door so that no one would see what had happened and what was currently going on. Holstering the FN, Zane moved to what looked like someone who'd been forced to crouch down, facing away from where the man with the chrome pistol had been aiming prior to Zane's arrival. The figure had been blindfolded and had his wrists tied behind his back._

_The ceramic knife made a clean cut through the ropes that bound the person's hands behind them, Zane untying the blindfold as quickly as possible._

"_You OK Venom?" Zane asked his partner using his codename. The two stood up from the crouched position that Dan had been in before replying._

"_Been better," The American replied, rubbing his wrists from where the ropes had cut slightly into his skin. "Another few seconds and you would've been recovering a body I think." Dan said this as Zane took the MP5 off of his shoulder, placing it onto a table at the side of the room._

_Zane took his kitbag off his back and took out the necessities for Dan; two-way radio in-case the two got split up, Kevlar flak jacket and a first aid kit. Zane was going to wrap Dan's wrists in two bandages because of the wounds inflicted by the ropes but Dan insisted that the Briton didn't._

"_Well on that basis, take this, and let's get the fuck out of here." Zane responded, handing Dan the FN that Zane saved his life with. Zane put the kitbag under the desk where he'd previously left the MP5, taking out an old Nokia mobile phone and placing it in his pocket._

"_You're not taking the kitbag?" Dan asked, back against the wall._

"_There are enough explosives in it to blow this place sky high, these bastards are more than welcome to keep it." Zane answered, making Dan smile at the prospect._

_The two soldiers made sweet work of twelve X-Rays moving toward the front of the compound. The element of surprise, the odd flash-bang and perfectly aimed double taps doing the job. Now the difficult bit; the front of the compound was similar to the rear; one corridor out onto a veranda and one staircase down. The odds were now firmly against them._

"_Venom, keep ten seconds behind me, pick anyone off that I miss." Zane ordered._

_Understood Warrior." Dan replied. Both of them using each other's codename as was protocol for TF13 ops._

* * *

><p>The three had reached the Mission Preparation building, causing Zane to wake up out of his memory. As usual the security systems were on the blink and didn't need much hassle to get in. They moved to floor with the senior mission controllers on for Karla and Zane to meet the two mission controllers for the operation in Northern Ireland; John Jones and Chloe Blake.<p>

One of the conditions that Zane had implemented was that all Vulcans had senior mission controllers on hand because of the nature of the work that they will get involved with; requiring the absolute best personnel available; hence John Jones and Chloe Blake.

"Good morning John, Chloe." Zara greeted as she and the two Vulcans entered the office of John Jones.

"Good morning Zara." Jones returned as he moved a few chairs around his desk.

The five exchanged pleasantries, as the two mission controllers were yet to meet any of the Vulcans. And with all of that out of the way they got down to business.

* * *

><p><em>**CLASSIFIED MISSION BRIEFING FOR COMMANDING OFFICER ZANE WILKINS AND OFFICER KARLA SMITH**<em>

_THIS DOCUMENT IS PROTECTED WITH A RADIO FREQUENCY TAG. __ANY__ ATTEMPT TO REMOVE IT FROM THE MISSION PREPARATION BUILDING WILL SET OFF AN ALARM_

_DO _NOT_ PHOTOCOPY OR MAKE NOTES_

Irish Terrorism

Today terrorism in the UK is perceived as being carried out mainly by Islamist extremists who have declared a holy war against the infidel. However this was not the case until recently. The previous threat came from extreme Irish Republicans who had fought for a 32 county Irish Republic since 1922. The republican militia known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) who were responsible for the death of Lord Mountbatten as well as almost 2000 civilian deaths, split into two factions 1986; PIRA and the Continuity IRA (CIRA). PIRA declared a ceasefire in 1994 as a result of the Good Friday Agreement. CIRA however, along with the Real IRA, became fully active as a result of the Good Friday Agreement. These two factions however have been considered as much of a threat as their original militia.

Modern CIRA

The Continuity IRA has been responsible for one fatal attack against the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) since its inception in 1986. As well as this the CIRA are more than willing to carry out crimes such as; assault, robbery, tiger kidnapping, extortion, fuel laundering and smuggling. It is also believed that CIRA members have access to a large number of firearms including; rifles, machine guns and pistols plus a small amount of Semtex explosive plus detonators. There has only been one recorded use of the firearms which killed a PSNI Officer in 2009, other than that CIRA has been inactive in committing terrorist acts.

Worryingly however, the Security Service (MI5) has recently obtained intelligence to suggest that a CIRA unit in Omagh is beginning to plan a terrorist act in Belfast, using numerous small explosive charges.

The CHERUB Mission

The intelligence MI5 obtained points to a small unit in Omagh containing a dozen members including ring leader Father Cyril O'Gara and his right hand man Patrick McIlroy. McIlroy has a 16 year old son, Dermot and a 14 year old daughter, Siobhan.

Dermot McIlroy is known to partake in his father's criminal activities with his gang of friends. Siobhan is not known to take part in these activities, however it is crucial for both agents to become friends with both of Patrick McIlroy's children in order to gather intelligence within their home.

Both agents will be enrolled into the same school as the McIlroy children; Omagh High School, in order to integrate during the day.

The mission controllers will be John Jones and Chloe Blake, playing the role of a Catholic couple, John and Chloe O'Donnell, who have moved from mainland Great Britain after 10 years away from their home town of Omagh for a change of work.

Officer Smith will play the role of Jones and Blake's daughter; Karla O'Donnell, a supporter of the republican movement in Northern Ireland.

Commanding Officer Wilkins will play the role of Zane Quaid, boyfriend of Karla O'Donnell and avid supporter of republicanism; deemed to be too extreme by his real parents, hence living with the O'Donnell family.

_NOTE: THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVED THIS MISSION BRIEFING, ON CONDITION THAT ALL AGENTS UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING: _This mission has been classified as LOW~MEDIUM RISK. The agents are reminded of their right to refuse to undertake this mission and to withdraw from it at any time.

This mission is likely to last between four to six weeks. Its primary goal is to gather information on the suspected bomb plot in Belfast. The danger to the agents should be low.

* * *

><p>"You two up for it?" Chloe Blake asked the young officers. The two mission controllers weren't sure what to expect from the Vulcans.<p>

Zane looked at Karla, waiting for her to give her answer as he was going to base his response on hers. Karla thought her answer through; weighing up the pros and cons of the operation. But, despite the lack of risk, she still didn't feel too confident.

"... I'll do it." She announced, ignoring her lack of her confidence. She turned to Zane, waiting for his response.

"I'll do it as well." Zane responded. Zara looked at Zane not overtly sure why either of them accepted to take the operation on with both of their hesitations from earlier.

"Are you sure?" The chairwoman asked.

"If it was a full Vulcan op, I'd have to do it, I don't turn challenges down."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12: Done<strong>

**Finally finished chapter 12. Now I can get on with the more high paced stuff.**


	13. Chapter 13: Ideals

Yo Durecel here, sorry I haven't kept you guys updated as to where I've been. A detailed explanation will be at the bottom in the author notes if anyone is interested. In the mean time; let's get on with the show. *cough* filler *cough*

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: Ideals<p>

The build up to the Northern Ireland op was in full swing. A house had been secured in Father O'Gara's parish, and items to be moved in, by one of CHERUB's front companies, was ready to go. Zane had Northern Irish plates put on one of the Evo X's that they were going to use.

All other amenities had been packed up, and the two Vulcans were ready to ship out with John Jones and Chloe Blake up front in a similarly Northern Irish registered BMW X5. They'd have to change the drivers around on the outskirts of Liverpool but until then, Zane had full use of 360 horsepower; which he was more than happy with.

Once the two cars were out onto the motorway Zane hooked his phone up to the car's Bluetooth system. Two minutes later a call came in. Karla looked at the caller ID; a picture of a very beautiful blonde girl in a hoodie, stood next to Zane, arms wrapped around each other. The name at the top of the screen said she was called Anastasia Vilani.

"Morning Anastasia," Zane greeted in Russian. Well now Karla knew that Anastasia was at least from a former Soviet country.

"Hi Zane! How are you, hm?" Came the English reply. This girl was way too chirpy to be genuine in Karla's opinion; it made her glad that she could speak Russian too, so she knew what Zane was saying.

"Meh, alright. How are you? You're on speaker by the way, say hi to Karla," Zane nonchalantly responded.

"Oh ok, cool! Hi Karla! I'm Anastasia, pleased to meet you. You're not Adrian's daughter by any chance are you?"

Karla was surprised that this Anastasia person knew about her Dad, had Zane told her?

"Hi Anastasia... How do you know that I'm Adrian's daughter?" She edgily replied.

"Well, as your surname is Smith, the same as Adrian's, and you're a Vulcan in UK 4th Squadron I assumed that you're his daughter." Anastasia answered extremely giddily.

"And why do you know about Vulcan?" Karla asked confrontationally, earning her a look from Zane that wasn't too happy.

"Because I am one!" The Russian replied, in such a way that Karla thought Anastasia hadn't understood that the brunette was being malice against the Russian.

It was at this point that Zane interjected in order to explain to Karla.

"Anastasia is one of the officers in 4th Russian Vulcan. Her father; Boris, is the CO of that squad, and a bloody good one at that, even if he is permanently pissed off..." He trailed off just as Anastasia put her two penneth in.

"He isn't always pissed off Zane! He's lovely!" the Russian defended before going on the offensive. "It's not as if your Dad is always Mr Funny." Zane sighed before replying.

"Ana. Unlike Boris, my Dad actually uses his sense of humour, your Dad on the other hand has a sense of humour but never uses it." There was a sad silence from all three people in the conversation before Zane spoke to change the subject. "Anyway, what was it you wanted Ana?"

Karla noticed that Anastasia's cheeriness had deflated somewhat after Zane had sighed.

"Um, oh yeah that was it; we've a training op in a few days. My Dad wanted to know if you were interested in joining us."

"Sorry Ana, I can't. We're on op now so Karla and myself can't, and the others are still getting used to the whole thing. So with regret I'll have to decline Ana." It was clear to Karla that both Zane and Anastasia had gotten slightly down at some point in the conversation.

"Oh, OK Zane. Hope it all goes well..." Ana responded, even more down than before.

"Thank you Ana. Good luck with the training op." The call was ended there. "Oh... bollocks..." Zane muttered aloud.

"What?" Karla asked, slightly surprised by the cuss.

"This op is expected to last three months, right?" Zane asked, despite already knowing the answer. Karla nodded. "Well at some point I have to go to Paris for a meeting with all the other COs. Ana's just reminded me."

"Speaking of Ana, what's the deal between you and her?" Karla asked. She wanted to know now rather than find out that something was up between her other half and this Russian girl.

"What, as in just now or..." Zane was cut off by Karla finishing his question.

"I mean just in general." Karla saw the look on Zane's face, to her it was as if he was asking if that's what she really meant or something more personal. "OK, I mean was there anything between you and her?" Karla begrudged herself for asking that question, she felt it made her look as though she didn't trust Zane would be a faithful boyfriend. If however that was the impression he got, it didn't show in his response.

"No. To be honest with you Karla; Ana is more of a sister to me, so to see her, or to have seen her, in the regard that you're worried about would be just downright weird to me." Zane explained. Well it was a relief to Karla, but she was still curious about how Zane seemed to know Ana so well.

"So why is Ana like a sister to you?"

"Ana and I were born in '94 so we've grown up at roughly the same time. More importantly both our dads go way back – because our grandfathers became quite close during WW2 – so they encouraged us to write to each other, before email became so widely used." Zane began to explain. It looked like he was reminiscing about some of the letters that he sent and received from Ana. "It was how we learned each other's languages so quickly; I'd send my letters to her in Russian – writing in Cyrillic script – and she'd reply in English – writing in Latin script." It was beautifully simple, and it sort of explained as to why Zane's handwriting was so bad; getting Latin and Cyrillic mixed up from a young age.

"Have you ever actually met each other in person?" Karla interjected.

"Believe it or not, I've only met her on two occasions. And it soon became clear on the first as to why her dad is known throughout Vulcan as the Godfather." Zane answered, half joking about Boris Vilani being known as Vulcan's Godfather. "Some of my contacts I've only met on a handful of occasions, hell I haven't even met the rest of them, but it's amazing how much trust you have in these people if and when the time comes to fight alongside them." Zane expanded. It was almost as if he was trying to give a glimpse of the life of a Vulcan to Karla, so she knew what she was now into long-term.

Karla sat back in the bucket-seat, taking in what Zane said. It was then that she realised that she was part of something big. Vulcan – in terms of importance – was enormous, but on scale it was tiny. Add in everyone and everything else that is linked to it; and it soon became clear that they were definitely in something larger than life.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, the convoy pulled onto the driveway of the house they'd be spending the next month and a half in. Zane hauled himself out of the passenger seat of the Evo, relieved to put some feeling into his numbing legs.<p>

Karla on the other hand got out of the X5 without so much as a murmur. Chloe seemed a little less relaxed than Karla, compared with John however; she seemed as fresh as a daisy. The elder mission controller almost looked as if he'd put his back out driving the Evo from Belfast to Omagh.

"I don't ever remember that car being so damned uncomfortable." Zane breathed as he pushed his back forward with a bit of help from his hands.

"And that's why you should've ridden with us!" Karla exclaimed, looping her arm through his.

The semi-detached house looked like any other semi-detached house that you'd clapped eyes on. The inside however was beautiful, it wasn't going to embarrass any of Knightsbridge's wealthy residence, but from the two teens point of view it was very comfy.

Karla pulled Zane up the stairs rather enthusiastically to decide on the bedrooms.

"You seem to have cheered up since Liverpool." Zane observed, surprised by how his voice had an undertone of cheeriness in it too.

"Well, Chloe and I had a bit of a girly confab which cheered me up." The brunette replied quirkily. It was the first time in a while that he'd seen Karla's innocent smile, and he had to admit; it was contagious.

* * *

><p>Karla had opted to help the mission controllers set up their base of operations at the house whilst Zane had gone off to learn the local roads and shops. He'd said he'd wanted to work out the fastest way of getting around, as he would only have access to either of the cars in an emergency situation. However, Karla was content with setting up what would be a safe haven for herself, before Zane and her had to actively start their investigation.<p>

She wanted somewhere where she didn't have to worry about the operation, as simple as it was. It needed to feel more like home to her, the room at campus was all well and good but it still didn't feel like home.

She was arranging posters and furniture in her room, she had put her headphones in to listen to her favourite boy band; One Direction, much to Zane's horror, even though he had 'expected it to be the case'. It had been quite funny seeing the look on his face when she told him that her favourite band was his most hated.

It seemed as though he'd had the last laugh though. Once 'What Makes You Beautiful' had finished, something she didn't recognise came on. Looking at the iPod revealed a song she'd never heard of before, one which Zane had, undoubtedly, put on her iPod.

"I bleed for you, forever I will lie awake. I WOULD DIE FOR YOU! I see the truth, of giving you my heart to break. I would die for YOU!" sang the gruff voice of the Black Veil Brides singer. Whilst it wouldn't be Karla's first choice, she secretly hoped that Zane chose it just for her.

* * *

><p>The next day was the two Vulcan's first day at school. Zane had to go for the slightly rebellious look and Karla went for a toned down but still rebellious look because of their back story for their cover. The Omagh High School uniform, which was compulsory for even AS and A level students, consisted of a green blazer, a white shirt and black tie for both boys and girls, boys had to have trousers regardless of the weather, girls however had a bit of flexibility in that they could have either trousers or skirts.<p>

Zane looked at himself in the mirror; his hair was spiked up, stubble shaven off, shirt half-tucked in and unbuttoned, tie hanging untied around his neck with a golden chain with a crucifix taking pride of place on his chest between the two undone buttons of the shirt. The blazer was hanging on his shoulders with his arms out of the garment. He looked like a twat in his opinion. Leaving a heavy sigh behind in his room, he hauled his backpack over his shoulder, trudging to Karla's temporary room to see if she was ready.

Knocking on the door, he heard a yelp of surprise from the other side.

"Karla? Are you okay?" Zane asked cautiously. There was a muttered rummaging sound beyond the door before an answer came.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You can come in y'know?" Something in her tone of voice made Zane think that perhaps Karla had finally calmed down about doing an operation. The thought made the CO smile as he turned the handle to go in.

The sight that greeted him made his face light up slightly. Karla was facing her mirror, attempting to put a few hairclips into her hair, the reflection of her face showed one of annoyance at the clips refusal to stay in place. She turned to Zane in a huff, giving both of them a chance to see each other.

"I guess I'm just going to have to go with my hair down," the brunette sighed before beginning to chuckle. This caused Zane to cock his head to the side with a look of confusion, causing Karla to laugh aloud.

"What? What'd I do?" The redhead asked dumbfounded by his other half's reaction to something he was unaware of.

"You look so uncomfortable dressed like that, not to mention that cute dumbstruck look on your face." She giggled, the response she got was nothing more than Zane's eyebrow raised up in a questioning manner.

Not long after that the two teenagers had left for school. They had noticed a few of the school kids didn't recognise them, but the vast majority had paid them no heed, Zane and Karla just blended into the mix.

Neither Karla nor Zane had spotted their targets yet, however it hadn't come as a great deal of surprise if Dermot was anything like Zane expected him to be. As for Siobhan, he had no idea, and Karla wasn't entirely sure of what to expect of her either. Hopefully she was going to be closer to her father and subsequently her brother. Karla didn't hold out much hope though.

The high school looked like any other secondary school as far as Zane was concerned, perhaps a bit larger because of the A-Level students that were sticking around, like him and Dermot – supposedly – was. The pair of teenagers navigated themselves to their first period homeroom. Before going their separate ways, Zane leant down to kiss Karla on the forehead.

"I love you Karla," Zane whispered to her before pulling her into a hug. Karla knew that he was doing this to help her ease up a bit, but it did look tad overkill. Of course, he would respond to that by saying that there was no such thing as overkill.

* * *

><p>Zane made his way to his new home room not overtly looking forward to meeting his targets; it always seemed to go tits up in the assassin trade if you got to know your targets. However, Zane had to stop thinking like an assassin and start thinking like a spy, want for a better description.<p>

Entering the classroom revealed what you'd expect of a classroom used by a wide range of students over the course of a single day; displays ranging from simple graphs à la Year 7 to integration by parts à la Year 13 of a sixth form college. Clearly the room was a maths room, judging from the contents of the displays as well as the orderly layout of the desks; two tables pushed together with the narrow end facing the front whiteboard, and the far ends being topped by a third perpendicularly placed desk.

The spy wasn't aware of where his quarry was going to be, nor his means of how he was going to try and get in with said quarry. He had a good idea though as to where the latter could be.

The room wasn't overtly busy at the moment, which was to be expected half an hour before the start of the school day, so Zane used the time to get an idea as to where possible dangers could arise from should his plan backfire slightly. In order to make the assessments in his mind he masqueraded his intentions by pretending to look over the displays. Luckily for Zane should anyone come in and quiz him on them he already had an understanding of the topics displayed apart from one which he wasn't too fussed about looking at yet.

Twenty minutes passed before Zane's quarry entered the room along with half of the students in the home room, his means of getting in with said quarry hadn't shown up yet though. Having said that, seeing as most of the class was filling up it gave him an idea as to where his 'means to an end' was going to be.

"You're in my seat," Zane looked around to see the 'means' stood, arms crossed in front of his chest. He was trying to make himself look larger than he was. Why, was anyone's guess as he was fairly muscular as he was. Zane looked at him pretending to be dumbfounded.

"And your point is?" Zane asked sarcastically, trying to wind the kid up. Zane knew who this guy was; Declan Sexton, a member of the YVF, a junior part of the Ulster Volunteer Force.

Seeing the crucifix with an effigy of Christ around Zane's neck, combined with his sarcastic reply pissed Declan off instantly.

"My point is: get out of my seat you Papal bastard!" Zane couldn't have cared less about the insult; in reality he was atheist, but right now he had to get into Dermot's crew. Dealing with this twat should do the trick.

In mock rage Zane shot up, pushing Sexton away, shouting at him "You got a problem with my faith, then let's take it outside Billy Boy!" knowing full well that would get a response.

Declan was half way ready to throw a punch at Zane until the teacher walked in the room and shrieked at them both.

"What in God's name are you two doing!?"

* * *

><p>After a colossal bollocking from the deputy headmaster, Zane and Sexton made their way back to their form. Not a word was spoken, but it was clear that Sexton still wanted a fight based on the number of times he cracked his knuckles.<p>

"Consider yourself lucky, kiddie-fiddler." Sexton began to taunt, irking Zane, accusing him of being a paedophile. "Next time I see you out of class; I'll flatten you." The loyalist went on. Zane clenched his fist, in mock anger. Keeping his voice low and even, he responded to the threat.

"You're more than welcome to fucking try."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: Finished.<strong>

**So yeah, detailed explanation as to where I've been for however long it's been since I last updated. Partially I've been getting settled into Uni, my body is definitely here but my head still seems to be at home but that's to be expected I guess. Girl problems were briefly an issue, but not enough to detract from this admittedly.**

**I believe the main reason for why this has taken so long to do is because; I haven't been in the mood to bother with it, if I'm brutally honest, because this chapter is – and there's no getting around this – filler. I hate filler. I just want to get to the juicy bits, of which this really, really wasn't. Oh, that and I've started getting into anime, and writing the odd X-over chapter for possible alternate documents. (PM me if you're interested in what I've come up with.)**

**Also, for those of you who want to know where the Christmas message with chapter X is, it is on my profile page under Preview for Dark Art. That's right, I gave you guys a preview of something that isn't even in this fic, or the next one! Because that's what I do, deal with it.**

**One final thing; currently I haven't even started on chapters 14, 15 or 17 and 16 has about a paragraph done so don't expect them for a while. However chapter 18 is coming along quite nicely I think, which is the first juicy bit since chapter 10 that I've wanted to get from my head onto Word.**

**-.O; Monocle = necessary, especially after this took so bloody long to do for not much quality to be read.**


End file.
